Slipping Away
by RestfulInsomniac
Summary: The more Emma pretends to be Sutton, the more she can feel who she used to be fading. The only one who she can be herself around is Ethan... And she can't let herself be around him.
1. Piece by Piece

**AN: Uhh... I love the Lying Game so much that I decided to write something for it... I'm not quite sure how long this will go, but I'm fairly sure it's going to be quite a few chapters... Anyways, enjoy...**

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><p><strong>Slipping Away<strong>

**Chapter 1**

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><p><em>Ethan's lips grazed Emma's neck, zausing her to gasp and throw back her head. She fisted Ethan's hair and pulled him in for a long, passionate kiss.<em>

_She wrapped her legs around his stomach, straddling him as she giggled._

_They kissed._

_They moaned._

_They-_

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><p>Emma woke up with a start, grabbing the sheets of her bed. Her eyes were wide, and she gasped for air, feeling much too hot. The cool air around her soothed her lungs and she threw off the blankets. She tried to calm her breathing, focusing on the in and out... The rhythm of her breaths calmed her slightly, but still she felt her heart pounding like a horrible war drum.<p>

What the _hell_ was _that_?

She could feel it so clearly, the feel of his lips against her own, and his firm kisses... The tickle of his breath on her neck...

She could feel it so clearly, but she knew it wasn't real. That was the downside to this whole twin-telepathy thing. How could she possibly know if this was her dream, or Sutton's?

Emma leaned back onto her pillows, trying to think of anything but Ethan... Anything but the mysterious boy with the sweetest smile... Anything but the only friend (and maybe more) that she had in this place... Anything but _him._

She failed.

Groaning, Emma turned her head to look at her digital alarm clock. The red numbers glowed, showing the ungodly time of 3:47 AM. For the next hour or so, Emma tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable in her bed...Sutton's bed.

She looked around the room, at all the pictures of her-...of Sutton. Everything she saw was Sutton's. Everything in this room belonged to Sutton. Everything _outside_ of the room belonged to Sutton. The whole life she was living belonged to Sutton. Absolutely _everything_ belonged to Sutton. Including Ethan.

Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she quietly made her way to the kitchen for a glass of water. She navigated the halls of the spacious house (that belonged to Sutton), not looking at the photographs (that featured Sutton), and basically trying not to look at anything (because it all belonged to Sutton). Walking over to the cupboard that held the glasses (which belonged to Sutton), she grabbed one of them and walked over to the- to Sutton's fridge, pouring herself some water from the fancy water/ice compartment in the door of it.

She turned around only to gasp and spill some of the water on herself in shock. There, sitting at the kitchen counter, was Laurel. _Sutton's_ sister. The blonde was calmly eating a sandwich, looking for all the world like it was perfectly normal to be snacking at nearly _5 AM. _"You scared me!" Emma gasped, leaning against the counter for strength that had suddenly deserted her.

Laurel smiled cheekily. "I wouldn't have scared you if you hadn't been so lost in thought."

"It's 5 AM. What else is there to do _but_ think?"

The blonde laughed. "I didn't know that you were capable of thinking!"

Emma frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, judging by your grades..." Sutton's sister winked. "They kind of speak for themselves."

The brunette bit her lip. Sutton's bad grades had taken some getting used to... She had often wondered just how to fake being a bad student, before finally deciding not to. After all, Sutton should be thanking her for the good grades... "And I suppose you get straight As?"

"Of course!" Laurel beamed. "Golden child, remember?"

"So why are you awake this late...or early?" Emma asked, pondering if 5 AM should be called a night or morning hour...

The blonde fingered the crust on her sandwich slightly, not meeting Emma's gaze. "Oh, just couldn't sleep."

"Is everything okay?" Emma asked, sitting on a stool (Sutton's...), next to Laurel (who was Sutton's sister...).

"Fine!" Said sister grinned, smiling a bit too widely to be sincere.

"Okay, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. And it's not like you would care, even if there was."

Emma bit her lip once more. There. Another reminder that she _wasn't_ Sutton. That this _wasn't _her life. That it would _never _be her life. That was soon as Sutton came back, she would have to go, she would have to go and run away from the police, and Social Services. Another reminder that she didn't belong here, she would _never_ belong here.

Laurel was right. Sutton probably wouldn't care... but she did. And _she_ was the one here right now. NotSutton. "I care. Tell me."

"It's just..." Laurel sighed. "Justin. I don't know if he's worth risking my friendship with Char and Mads... I know that they're _your_ friends, and that they're your _best_ friends, but they're still my friends too! And because of him, I probably screwed it all up..."

"Do you like him?"

"Uh... yeah!"

"Then go for it! Char and Mads will understand... Trust me."

Laurel eyed her "sister" carefully. "What's up with you?"

"What?" Emma tried to look as innocent as possible.

"Ever since we got back... You've been different. Nicer... Sweeter... I don't know. You just haven't been...Sutton."

The brunette shrugged nonchalantly. "Maybe I'm getting tired of being Sutton."

"Hmm..."

There was a long pause before Laurel broke it. "So, how's things with Ethan?"

Emma forced a smile. "Better... I can't thank you enough for taking the blame for the laptop thing... It really means so much to-"

Laurel laughed, cutting Emma off. "You really have changed." She stood up. "Don't worry about it. You did me a favor, I did you a favor. We're even."

"Thanks. Really."

The blonde's eyes softened somewhat. "You're welcome..." _Sutton's_ sister left, throwing back a 'Good night' as she did.

Emma was alone in the kitchen... In Sutton's kitchen.

The talk with Laurel had somehow made up her mind. Sutton had done her a favor, by letting her hide while the cops were looking for her back in Las Vegas... The least she could do was keep her hands off Sutton's boyfriend.

Emma stood up and drained the last of her water, putting the glass into the dishwasher before turning and going back to Sutton's room. She would try to sleep in the hour she had before school. After all, if there was anyone who needed sleep, it was her.

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><p>A long way away from the grand mansions, elaborate pools, and elegant gardens and lawns, a small trailer sat, and in that trailer lay a sleepless Ethan. After the events of that night, he just couldn't even think of sleeping.<p>

Sutton always thought everything through. That was one of the main thoughts running through his head. No matter what, Sutton _always_ thought everything through. Whether it was a pool party, a vacation, or a Lying Game prank, Sutton Mercer would have everything thought through, with a plan for every situation, and every "what if."

That was what bothered Ethan.

If Sutton had thought about having Emma take her place (and evidently, she had), then she would have a plan for what would happen to Emma afterwards. She would know exactly what would happen with her, and exactly how Emma would like it.

Yet she hadn't reassured Emma...

Sutton Mercer not only liked to make plans, she liked to assure people of the outcome. The only reason Ethan could think of that would explain Sutton not sharing, was the possibility that Emma wouldn't like the outcome.

But even Sutton wouldn't do that. Even Sutton wouldn't toss her twin sister out... She had to have a plan, right?

Ethan remembered Emma breaking down, and the way she had felt in his arms...soft in a way that Sutton was never soft...

He remembered her whispered words as she was on the edge of tears. _"What's going to happen to me?"_

And he remembered his own whispered words. _"I don't know."_

He wanted to believe that Sutton would somehow bargain for Emma to stay; that she would somehow convince her parents to adopt her, to give her twin the family she never had. And some part of him believed that. Sutton had a soft spot for her twin... But she had a bigger soft spot for her_ life_. And Sutton Mercer would know that if Emma was adopted, her life would never be the same.

Ethan closed his eyes, wanting to drive out the thoughts, and the memories... and especially those whispered words that had followed the moment of weakness.

_"You're Sutton's boyfriend."_

LINE BREAK

Emma tossed and turned for a good half an hour before deciding to just get up. She primped and prepped in the way that Sutton had primped and prepped all her life. She put on the designer clothes that could buy an apartment in her world. But she wasn't in her world, she was in Sutton's. And in Sutton's World, a $5,000 dress paired with $2,000 sandals and a $1,000 necklace was nothing out of the ordinary.

For a split second, Emma considered throwing on some of her old clothes. The type she had worn before she pretended to be someone she was so obviously not. She wanted to feel the way the warm, worn out jeans would feel on her legs... And she wanted to wear a t-shirt, not one of the fancy tops that dominated Sutton's clothes. She wanted to see the surprised expressions thrown her way... But she wouldn't.

Emma would just keep on playing Sutton. Because what did Emma have, really, compared to Sutton? She had nothing. She had _nothing. _

So, Emma pulled on the designer clothes, and flat-ironed her hair. She put on eyeliner, eye-shadow, mascara, and all the make up that was necessary to pass the part of Sutton. She became someone who she was not. And all for her lovely twin.

Emma went to the kitchen, grabbed an apple and sat down. She had learned that Sutton didn't ever eat a huge breakfast, so she ignored the mouthwatering aroma of the homemade waffles _Sutton's _mother had made and crunched sullenly on her apple, waiting for Laurel to come downstairs so they could go to school.

The school where she would be Sutton. Slowly, oh so very slowly but surely, she could feel 'Emma' slipping away. Gone from not enough use. The only one person who she could be Emma around was...Ethan... And honestly, the less Emma thought about Ethan, the better.

Sutton's life was consuming her, and she didn't know if she could get out.

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><p><strong>AN: So, review and tell me what you think! Should I continue it?<strong>


	2. All Hail

**AN: Oh. My. God. Thank you so much for the amazing response, I really appreciate it, and I hope you're enjoying reading this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it!**

**Something I felt I should mention... From now onward, this story is not going to follow the course of the TV show... There may be some things I like so much that I pull from the TV show, but after this chapter, it's probably not going to happen often... Keep in mind that this isn't the same as the TV show, so as much as you want to skip it, you should probably read all of it. All of the scenes I don't mention happened as they did in the episode... I just didn't want to spend too much time going over the episode.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Lying Game...**

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><p>Ethan awoke that morning to his laptop chirping. <em>Incoming video call from: Sutton.<em> A month ago he would have pressed the green "accept" button without a second thought, but... A month ago... He hadn't known Emma.

Feeling guilty about thinking about his _girlfriend's sister_ while his _girlfriend_ was waiting for him, he steeled himself and clicked the "accept" button, wincing slightly when Sutton's face appeared on the screen... For a moment, he had thought it was-

No.

He couldn't let himself think like that. He had a _girlfriend!_ A hot girlfriend who most guys would give anything to be with! Most guys... but not him.

"Hey there, Ethan." Sutton whispered, for a reason that was unknown to him.

"Hi." He waved awkwardly.

"Sorry, I'm calling from my phone, I just got another lead on Mom... Well, not a lead... do you know how many women are named Annie Hobbs just in the US alone?"

"No." The dark hair teen said dryly, rolling his eyes slightly. "Why don't you tell me?"

Sutton didn't notice the sarcasm. "A lot." She frowned momentarily before skipping subjects quickly. "So how's Emma doing? I hear you've gotten...close..."

"She's doing good. Homecoming's coming up... I think she's going to get pressured into running..." He scowled, thinking of _his_... of Emma acting like...Sutton...

"She's _what_?" Sutton screeched out.

Ethan glared at her. "If you want to be homecoming queen, all you gotta do is come home."

"I can't! I need to look for my birth mother!"

"And abandon your family, both adopted and biological, while you do so? Okay, go ahead. But don't _bitch_ about homecoming. It's your own damn fault."

Sutton's eyes got wide, and she looked down. "You're right... I'm sorry Ethan. I love you..."

There was nothing for Ethan to do but reply back the same words, knowing somehow that he was lying all the while.

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><p>A few days later, it was Homecoming. As Ethan had predicted, Emma had sulkily agreed to run for Queen (only after holding out with Laurel), and as he had silently predicted, she was going to win. Of course, the results hadn't been announced yet, but she was <em>Emma. <em>Even in the guise of Sutton, there was something so endearing about her, something that her twin sister would never have, that made her so... vote-worthy.

"Please be there!" Emma begged him, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"I can't. Sutton doesn't want our relationship going public." Ethan shrugged, pretending that it didn't hurt him at all. That he didn't think about it every night when he was supposed to be sleeping. That it didn't feel like someone had shoved their arm into his chest and pulled out something that had once beaten... And especially, pretending that as of lately, it had been hurting less and less...

"Well, you don't have to go as my boyfriend! Just you being there would make me feel better... Please?" He turned to look at her and was ambushed by her puppy dog eyes, which looked so much better on her than on Sutton...

"I'm sorry."

Emma bit her lip, but nodded. "Okay... It's your decision..."

Ethan looked at her, raising an eyebrow. Pushing the issue. Yet another thing she and Sutton didn't have in common...

"So why do you want to go so badly?" He asked, laying back on the bed.

"Well... I've never been to a school dance before..."

He snorted. "As if."

"Seriously! My best friend and I would just skip... Go to the movies or something..."

"You're lying. I bet all the guys wanted to take you." Ethan teased, poking her side with his finger. There was another reminder. Emma was as much out of his league as Sutton was... Sutton. His _girlfriend. _He wanted to hit himself at the realization. He was _flirting_ with his _girlfriend's sister_. _Twin_ sister!

"Nope!"

He was stunned. "You're lying."

"No... The only guy who showed any interest at all in me was my pervy step-brother Travis... and uh... Let's not talk about him."

"Whoah." Ethan was...dumbstruck. There was no way someone like Emma wasn't asked out on a daily, or even hourly basis!

"Yeah." Emma lied back on the bed too, joining him in staring at the ceiling. "This is kind of my only shot for something like this... Besides, if Sutton doesn't get Homecoming Queen, people might catch on..."

"Yeah. They might." Sutton. Sutton, Sutton, Sutton. The word was starting to give him a headache... but it seemed like Sutton was everywhere...

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><p>Ethan stared hard at the tuxedo on his bed. His brother had loaned it to him, stating that he should go out and have some non-Sutton related fun...<p>

Meanwhile, his brothers words were echoing in his head. "She only wants to sneak around with you. Not to be with you."

It also brought to mind Emma's begging for him to be with her at the dance... She didn't want to hide him... She... She was Sutton's sister. _Damn!_ He needed to get his mind off her...

It was then that he remembered Sutton's admission. She never wanted to go public with him... He would always just be the "sneak around" guy. Never the "date" guy. It didn't hurt as much as it should have... But then again, Ethan guessed he had come to terms with the whole thing long ago. Suddenly, he made up his mind. He grabbed the tuxedo and smirked. He and Sutton were as good as done.

So his "fun" definitely wouldn't be "Sutton-related".

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><p>Emma stared at the picture of her in her homecoming dress and tiara that was on her screen. In the yearbook, it would have a caption that read "Sutton Mercer". Not "Emma." The whole night would belong to Sutton, and so would Ethan...<p>

Ethan...

She had tried to avoid him, but as the only person who knew who she really was, he had this attraction... At least, she tried to tell herself that it was just because he knew. It was easier that way...

And she still couldn't figure out if he had really gone to homecoming for her, or just to throw his and Sutton's relationship into the light. She was inclined to believe him, but he was _Sutton's_ boyfriend.

Just like it was _Sutton's_ homecoming, and _Sutton's_ tiara. And Sutton's cruel, but oh so true words. "It's not _you_ they care about_._"

Sutton really needed to shut up sometimes... Emma slapped her hand over her mouth as soon as the thought had popped into her head. How could she _say_ that? Without Sutton, she would be in a juvie jail cell, or back in Las Vegas with...Travis... Sutton was the one who had helped her out when she needed it... Sutton was her _sister. _Her _twin_.

God...

Life was so confusing sometimes...

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><p>Looking in the mirror, Laurel could pick out far too many things she hated about herself.<p>

The freckles that dusted her nose and cheeks and took way too much make-up to cover...

The slight amount of baby fat on her waist. Very slight, barely noticeable, but it was there, and she hated that...

Her weird knees... They were just, weird, somehow... They were knobbly and odd...

Her blonde hair... She used to love her hair, until she realized how pretty Sutton's was.

But then again, Sutton didn't have freckles. Sutton didn't have baby fat. Sutton didn't have weird knees. Sutton has...everything. And Laurel had nothing. Until recently...

She still couldn't believe Sutton had been so nice to her. The Sutton from a few weeks ago would rather eat nails than choose Laurel over Char...but yet, she had... Then again, a few weeks ago, Sutton hadn't had that huge personality change that was in effect now. Laurel still was in shock over how different her sister seemed to be. She was nicer, sweeter, and somehow...softer. She wasn't as rigid and uncaring as she had been a few weeks ago.

In Laurel's opinion, the change was a welcome one.

As were most of the changes in her life...

Justin was...perfect. He was charming, he was hot, he was funny. He was everything Sutton could get with a snap of her fingers and everything that Laurel would never have. Or at least she had thought so... Because now, she had it.

She had _him._

She had the hot one, the nice one, the sweet one, the Homecoming King one... She had him. Laurel Mercer had finally gotten a guy who was, well, perfect.

And it was all thanks to the new Sutton.

But she had paid her back with the "Ethan-Laptop" thing, and since she hadn't been asked for more payment, she was going to consider them even...

Studying her appearance in the mirror for the billionth time that day, Laurel narrowed her eyes. She was missing something. Her flowery short dress was cute, but it was missing something. She had earrings, she had a necklace... She was missing a bracelet! More accurately, she was missing Sutton's golden bangle.

With the new attitude Sutton had recently adopted, surely she wouldn't mind... Laurel headed to Sutton's room, knocking before entering, and finding the room completely deserted.

The laptop chirped, and without thinking, Laurel headed over to see what was the matter. _Incoming call from: Sutton._ She frowned. That was weird. She decided not to press "accept", after all, it might be a mistakenly addressed call to Ethan... Laurel saw the bangle sitting on Sutton's vanity and grabbed it, smiling when she slipped it on.

She headed out only to run into Sutton. "What were you doing in my room?" Her sister asked her, raising an eyebrow, but smiling kindly so Laurel knew she wasn't in trouble. She _loved_ Sutton's new attitude.

"Borrowing your bangle..." Laurel gestured toward the piece of jewelry. "You don't mind, do you?"

Sutton laughed. "Of course not!" The brunette sister winked at her blond sibling. "Date tonight?"

Laurel felt her cheeks heat up. "Something like that..." She brushed past Sutton toward her own room. "See ya later sis!" But before she reached the door to her room, she paused. "Hey, did you video chat your own laptop?"

"What?" Sutton seemed confused.

Laurel smiled apologetically. "When I was in your room, looking for the bangle, there was an incoming video chat from you. You must've dialed it from your pocket or something."

Sutton nodded slowly. "Yeah... pocket... probably..."

Something seemed off, but Laurel didn't want to dwell. "Bye sis!" She called out before entering her room and sitting down carefully on her bed.

"I love my life..." She smiled, but glancing toward the mirror she frowned. "My freckles suck though."

LINE BREAK

Sutton glared at the computer screen, which was on her school's website. Queen Emma was featured, along with King Justin, a few pictures of the Homecoming King with _Laurel, _of all people, and even worse, a few dozen pictures of Emma with _Ethan._

_Her_ Ethan.

At first, she had only seen the pictures that showed them dancing and had thought that Ethan was trying to expose their relationship to the public. Then she saw the kiss, and had seen red.

_Her_ Ethan and _her_ sister were _kissing._ They should know better by now. Sutton Mercer did not go down without a fight, and a fight with Sutton Mercer was one of the scariest things known to mankind. She smirked at the thought of her revenge.

They would _pay._

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><p>Dan Whitehorse walked into the kitchenette of his tiny trailer, whistling all the while. "Honey!" He shouted out. "I'm home!" Grinning at his own wittiness, he opened up the fridge, grabbed the nearly empty bottle of chocolate milk and closed it. He jumped when he saw not one, but two people sitting at the kitchen table. His eyes narrowed. "Hello, Sutton."<p>

The girl didn't react, staring at the table. He frowned. "_Hello, Sutton._" Finally, she looked up, as if only remembering her name. Her wide eyes were even wider than usual, and her eyes were just a bit red...

"Hello, Officer Whitehorse..."

His eyes narrowed once more. What was wrong with the girl? She had just said something _polite_. Not to mention what she was wearing... Jeans and a...t-shirt? What was going on? The jeans didn't look designer, and the t-shirt didn't look like it cost over two hundred dollars...

Ethan caught the girl's mistake and hurried to speak. "Dan," he cleared his throat nervously. "I need to ask you for a favor."

"Sure thing." Dan took put the chocolate milk back in the fridge and took out some beer instead. "As soon as Miss Mercer leaves."

Sutton bit her lip and kissed Ethan on the cheek before grabbing her bag and walking out of the trailer, leaving Ethan to chase after her, shocked at her. They exchanged a few words, Dan caught only the words "meet me" and "don't go." The first from Sutton, the second from Ethan.

Finally, he heart the sound of gravel crunching as Sutton walked away. Ethan stormed back into the kitchen and sat down heavily at the table. After a moment, he opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by-_Sutton?_

But this Sutton was wearing a pretty, obviously expensive designer dress, heels and clutching a purse. "Ethan!" She screeched as she rudely stormed into the trailer, not even pausing to greet him. She flipped her hair in an obnoxious way. "Where's...?" She paused when she saw Dan, eyes wide. "Where's my...uh...school bag? I left it here...right?"

Dan glared at the girl and crossed his arms. "Okay, Miss Mercer, just what are you trying to pull here?"

"What are you talking about?" Sutton smiled fake-innocently, like a tiger pretending to be a kitten.

"You were here literally a minute ago."

"I...was here?" Her smile widened. "Interesting... Bye Ethan!" She chirped, running out of the trailer so quickly that her short dress billowed out a bit behind her.

Ethan dropped his head onto the old oak kitchen table and groaned. He then began banging his head against it. Dan rushed to push his brother away from the table before he could give himself any brain damage. He then slapped him on the back of the head. "What the hell?" He yelled at his younger brother.

Instead of answering his question, Ethan just glared, stood up and walked to his tiny room in the very back of the trailer. Dan looked on in confusion. His little brother was many things. But henever ignored him... Ever. Since his father had... Since their parents hadn't been around anymore, Dan had taken over the role for his brother. There were many things he wished he hadn't said to Ethan, but Ethan had always talked to him.

He moved closer to the door, listening in... He _really_needed some beer.

"She was here." There was a sound of someone moving around as Ethan spoke.

"What? Who?" That was Sutton's voice, but not like he'd heard ever before. Her voice was shaking... Almost like she was _scared_.

"Sutton... She was here. She knows you're still here... And..."

There was a small sob.

"Oh no... Don't cry, honey... Don't cry." Dan had never heard Ethan sound so gentle... His eyes widened. He had never sounded that gentle with Sutton. Never. And...Sutton wouldn't cry.

So if the Sutton in the room wasn't Sutton...who was she?

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><p><strong>AN: Well, sorry that the chapter was so boring... But I'm pretty excited about the last part. I just love writing Dan, I'm not even sure why...<strong>

**Anyways, review and tell me what you think should happen next!**

**-Marie **


	3. Of Handcuffs and Beer

**AN: Sorry for the long wait... It's been a busy week... :) Once again, thanks for the awesome reviews and all the story alerts, I'm really glad you're enjoying this.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Lying Game**

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><p>Dan stood at the door, forgotten beer bottle in one hand, and a huge question in his head. What the hell was going on here? He frowned. This was <em>his<em> trailer. Ethan may live here, but he owned the place. So he set his beer bottle down carefully in the doorway (beer was pretty expensive, and he didn't have too much money to spare...), and walked into the room, pausing in shock at the sight before him.

Sutton, the casual Sutton in jeans and a t-shirt, the Sutton who was not Sutton was in Ethan's lap. He was rocking her back and forth and rubbing her back gently. Her head was buried in her chest and her shoulders were shaking slightly.

"I'm going to ask one last time. What the hell is going on?"

Ethan looked up quickly, his eyes wide from shock and anger. "Dan, now really isn't the best time."

Sutton looked at Ethan, still hiding her face from Dan. "It's fine. I'll just go."

"You're not going!" Ethan told her, grabbing her hands to make sure that she didn't go. "Please?" He whispered, pleading with her. "You can't go."

Sutton shook her head slightly and got up. "I'm sorry," she said, grabbing a backpack that was sitting on the bed and standing up to walk out. Ethan jumped up, and in the time it took Dan to blink, grabbed an extra pair of Dan's handcuffs and quickly handcuffed Sutton's left hand to a bedpost. The three of them stood in shock over what had just happened.

"Did you just handcuff me to the bedpost?" Sutton asked in shock before bursting out in laughter.

Dan wasn't any less shocked. "Where did you get my handcuffs?"

Ethan shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant, but the frightened look in his eyes gave him away. "You left them lying around... Uhh... you have the key, right?"

Dan smirked. "I'll un-cuff her when you let me know what's going on." Ethan and Sutton exchanged a look.

Sutton opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by a huge yawn. Ethan hurried to her side. "Oh my god... I forgot... You must've been up half the night. Lay down." His voice was more concerned than Dan had ever heard it.

The brunette smiled at him. "I'm fi-" She was interrupted by yet another yawn. "I think I'll do that..." So she laid on her side, facing the bedpost she was handcuffed to, and using the arm of that hand as a pillow.

Ethan grabbed a blanket and tucked it around her, earning a smile in return. He grabbed his brother's arm and pulled him into the kitchenette, rolling his eyes when Dan reclaimed his beer from where he had set it down. Ethan made sure to close the door of his bedroom in order to give Sutton some peace. "What do you want to know?" He asked quietly.

"Everything. What is Sutton trying to pull?"

Ethan's eyes grew dark. "She's trying to...well, I suppose I should explain."

Dan spread his arms sarcastically. "Please."

"You think Sutton's in my room, sleeping, right?" Ethan began, hesitantly.

"I _know_ she's in your room, sleeping."

"Well, that's not Sutton. That's Emma."

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><p>Dan raised an eyebrow. "And I suppose this 'Emma' is Sutton's clone?"<p>

Ethan chuckled. "No, just her twin."

The elder brother rolled his eyes. "And I suppose her long lost twin just randomly showed up?"

Ethan bit his lip. "Not randomly... Sutton got Emma to take her place while she went to LA to find their birthparents..."

Dan barked out a laugh, and shook his nearly-empty beer bottle teasingly. "I'm gonna need a few more beers before I believe that one..."

"Look, everyone's been talking about how Sutton's "changed" since she came back from Paris. Don't you think there's a reason for that?"

"If you expect me to believe this, you're going to have to tell me where "Emma's" family is in all of this."

"They don't exist."

Dan raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"She doesn't _have_ a family... She was living in a foster home when she and Sutton found each other through facebook. Emma hasn't told me the full story, but I know that she had a foster brother who tried to do something to her, so she ran. She met Sutton at a bus stop, Sutton told her to switch clothes, and to take her place. She said it was only for the weekend, and Emma believed her..." Ethan paused. "It's been a lot longer than a weekend."

Dan shook his head laughing slightly from disbelief and scorn. "I told you, Mercer girls are trouble. Laurel framed you for the laptop thing!"

Ethan looked shocked for a second before laughing. "I forgot you didn't know about that... Laurel just took the blame to pay back a favor to Sutton... Well, Emma pretending to be Sutton. She didn't actually do it."

Officer Whitehorse gaped at his younger brother. "I definitely need more beer..." He muttered, rubbing his forehead with a hand. "So if everything was thought out so well, what happened?"

"Remember Homecoming? How you said that I needed to be with a girl who wanted to be my girlfriend in public, not just sneak around? Well... Emma was that girl."

Dan eyes widened, although really, he didn't have the right to be so surprised... The proof had been in front of him the whole time. "You and Emma?"

"Yeah... she's just...amazing. She's so positive, and she always sees the good in people..." Ethan smiled unconsciously, looking off into space.

"So if you and Emma were so perfect... what happened?"

Ethan's face darkened. "Sutton came back."

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><p>"She...just came back?"<p>

"She saw photos...of Homecoming... One of them was Emma and I kissing... She didn't take too well to that."

"So, is she out to kill Emma or something?" Dan, against his better judgment, found himself engrossed in his brother's story.

"No... They're twins. They're got this voodoo connection or something... Even Sutton wouldn't do that. She's just here to kick her out. The problem with that is that Emma doesn't have anywhere to go. Sutton never planned for Emma to stay after they switched back to their normal lives. She just wanted a favor, and then she wanted her gone." Ethan looked grim. "And what Sutton wants, Sutton gets."

Dan peered at his brother critically. There were bags under his eyes, and he seemed to be torn apart by the recent events... But there was a sparkle in his eyes, something Dan hadn't seen since their parents were still around. Whoever this Emma was, she obviously had a good effect on Ethan. "So, Sutton came back, and Emma came here?"

Ethan nodded. "To say goodbye. Sutton gave word that she was coming back, and she spent a while freaking out over the phone with me before she grabbed her bag and ran over here... It was the wrong bag though, so she probably needs to go back... She was so exhausted and frazzled, so I gave her some of that calming tea, the one you used to give me when I was younger and had those nightmares, remember? And then you and Sutton showed up, and Sutton already threatened to... Well, I snuck Emma in through the window, you came in, she tried to leave, and I handcuffed her to the bed. Can you un-cuff her now?"

The police officer paused a moment before saying yes, staring at his younger brother once more. "You really like her, don't you."

"Well, yeah... She's..." Ethan smiled, and nothing more really needed to be said, but he said it anyways. "She's perfect."

"Then I'll uncuff her." Dan ruffled Ethan's hair and stood to grab the handcuff keys from his police belt. They walked together the few feet that led to Ethan's room, and Dan opened the door to a sight that scared him.

Sutt- _Emma_ was thrashing around this way and that, disregarding the handcuff. She was still asleep, and violently jerking right and left. Her mouth was open in a silent scream and she looked in pain. Ethan quickly hurried to her side and tried to hold her down with his arms, when that failed, he hesitated before straddling her body, causing her to calm slightly. He quickly shook her awake, but the chaos only intensified from there.

Emma's eyes were wild, and it was obvious she didn't recognize Ethan. She thrashed even more wildly than before and pulled at the handcuff urgently. "_Get it off!" _She shrieked with the voice of a wild animal and Ethan turned to Dan.

"You heard her! Get the handcuffs off!"

Dan was already hurrying to unlock the handcuffs, but he was fumbling too much. Finally, he took a deep breath and unlocked them, causing Emma to quickly withdraw her hand, now sobbing.

Ethan grabbed her and cradled her as she sobbed into his shirt. "It's okay..." He crooned in her ear, holding her even when she struggled. "You're okay... You just had a bad nightmare... Nothing's going to happen to you... I'm here... I'm always gonna be here..." He rocked her back and forth slowly, rubbing her back and holding her tightly.

Finally, Emma calmed down, but kept her face hidden from Dan. She murmured something into Ethan's shirt that Dan didn't catch, but Ethan did. "Yeah... I told him everything..."

Emma nodded and removed her head from Ethan's shoulder. "I'm sorry for that...display..." She apologized to Dan, wiping her eyes and sniffling softly.

"No need to apologize just...what set that off?"

Emma's eyes unfocused and she seemed like her mind wasn't there at all. "That wasn't the first time I've been handcuffed to a bedpost..." She said softly, and the horrible words echoed around Dan's head.

"What happened?" He asked, more gently, the police officer in him coming out.

"One of my foster dads was a pervert... He... uhh... Well, he tried to rape me... I screamed so loudly a neighbor found him trying to... he got arrested. It was a big deal because he was a cop..." The brunette bit her lip and leaned back into Ethan, who instantly began rubbing her arm.

"A cop, huh?" Finally, Dan thought, finally he could get some verification of the ridiculous story...

"Yeah. His name was Patrick Smith... In Carson City."

Dan's eyes widened to a ridiculous level. "Patrick _Smith_?" The man in question was one of the most notorious dirty cops of the decade... He had blackmailed, extortioned, and even murdered people who he disagreed with...but he had never known that the list had extended to rape... Or, attempted rape... "Do you have nightmares about him often?"

"No... This was my first in a while... The handcuffs set it off, I think." Her eyes began watering again, and Ethan embraced her once more, kissing the top of her head softly as she hid her head in his chest.

Suddenly, before he could think about it, Dan began to speak. "You don't have anywhere to go, do you." It wasn't a question.

"No, I don't," came the muffled reply from the depths of Ethan's chest.

Dan bit his lip. Was he going to regret this? "You can stay here as long as you need."

Emma lifted her head and stared at him in shock. "Really?"

"Of course. You...you might have to share the bed with Ethan though, since I use the pull-out couch and there's nothing else..."

"That's fine." Sutton's twin hurried to say. "Thank you so much..." She gave him a shaky, watery smile, and Dan was struck by how much _prettier_ it seemed on her, rather than Sutton. Hers was genuine, while Sutton's...well, Sutton's smiles could lie just as well as she could.

"I'll leave you two alone now..." The officer told them, smiling as he walked out of the room after he saw Ethan grin at the girl.

Yes, Emma was something else...

But she and Ethan better not do anything while he was in the trailer... That was a big no-no.

* * *

><p>Emma snuggled deeper into Ethan's chest, enjoying the warmth radiating off of him.<p>

He smiled down at her. "So, bed buddy... Do you want right side or left?"

She snorted and smacked his arm. "If you keep that up, you're getting the floor... Besides, I don't feel like sleeping right now..."

Ethan nodded slowly. "Do you want to talk about it?"

The brunette thought a moment before shaking her head. "Later, when things aren't so chaotic..."

"Okay, it's your choice." Ethan smiled gently down at her before suddenly chuckling.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing... Just the fact that I have the most amazing girlfriend in the world."

Emma's eyes widened. "Am I your girlfriend?"

Ethan stiffened under her. "Not if you don't want to be... I just assumed, I guess that... er... Well, umm..."

She shut up her blathering _boyfriend_ by kissing him suddenly. "I want to be. So, that means you're my boyfriend, right?"

He grinned. "I like the sound of that... Emma Becker's boyfriend."

"It's a pretty awesome title."

"I have to agree with that..." Ethan laughed and hugged Emma closer to him. They laid like that for a few minutes, silently enjoying each other's company. "So, girlfriend, what do you want to do?" He waited a moment, and then frowned. "Emma?" He turned to her, only to smile.

She was peacefully asleep.

He brought her closer, and tried to fall asleep. It was easier said than done, but soon, all of his worries slipped away...

* * *

><p>Laurel walked into the kitchen that morning feeling refreshed, energized, and perfect. It was a Saturday, and she already had plans to spend it with Justin... She opened the fridge and pulled out some orange juice, humming as she did so.<p>

"And I think to myself, what a wonderful world..." She sang under her breath, twirling around, lost in bliss from the perfect morning.

She sipped her orange juice while staring out the window at the birds who were chirping and flying around. Usually, Laurel never paid attention to things, but today... Well, today seemed different somehow.

Laurel stood up to get the remote to the tv when suddenly, she heard a loud crash, coming from Sutton's room. She crept toward the room, wondering if the thief who had stolen her sister's laptop was in there again. The blonde reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out her iPhone, which was glitzed out in every way possible.

She sneaked closer to the door when she heard a voice shouting. Not just any voice, Sutton's voice. But this wasn't Sutton like she had heard before. This Sutton wasn't _pissed_, she was full on _furious._

Another voice replied to Sutton's. It was calmer, and more gentle, and even though Laurel couldn't hear what was being said, she had the distinct feeling that it was trying to soothe Sutton.

The only problem was that the first and second voices were exactly the same.

A horrible, frightening thought occurred to Laurel. What if Sutton had multiple personality disorder? It would explain her recent attitude change, and her sneaking around with Ethan when she had Luke... And, more importantly, it would explain what Sutton was doing in her room...

Laurel took a deep breath as she prepared to violate one of Sutton's most enforced and strict laws. "Thou shalt not enter the room of Sutton without permission." Of course, Laurel had done this many times before, but today... What if Sutton's disorder made her dangerous?

But she had no choice. Her sister was in there, and she might need help.

Laurel quickly opened the door and stepped into the room.

She then felt like fainting in shock.

This was not multiple personality disorder. Even that couldn't explain why there were _two_ Suttons sitting on the bed.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So... Dan knows, and Laurel is on the way to figuring it out. Interesting developments, right?<strong>

**I'm not sure what I want to happen next... I could either have Char and Mads find out, or have a few chapters with no one new figuring it out, and just let the chaos roll... A few misunderstandings would be included, of course! **

**So, which do you guys want?**

**-Marie  
><strong>

**PS: Anyone else love the "Emma" slip-up in the last episode? Genius scene, right? **


	4. Multiple Personality Disorder

**AN: Sorry for how long it took me to update this... This chapter was just kind of hard to write I guess... Thank you so much for all of the reviews, favorites, and alerts! I'm really glad all of you are enjoying the story...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Lying Game**

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><p>Laurel gaped at the two Suttons. A moment before, she had thought that Sutton might have multiple personality disorder. That was definitely not an option right now.<p>

"What?" She gasped. "How?" She couldn't find the words. "But... And..." Finally, she stopped. "_What?_"

One of the Suttons stood up. This Sutton was wearing one of the multiple designer dresses that filled up her closet, and Laurel decided to name her Dress Sutton. The other Sutton was wearing a normal t-shirt and jeans. This would be Jean Sutton.

While Laurel was gaping and stuttering, Jean Sutton stood up and walked toward Laurel slowly, like approaching a deer with the fear of stunning it. She slowly and calmly put a hand on Laurel's shoulder and looked her in the eyes. "Laurel, I think you're going to need to sit down."

Before Laurel knew it, she had been set down on ...one of the Sutton's beds, and the Suttons were standing in front of her. Jean Sutton was on the left, looking worried, and tapping her foot slightly from nervousness. She had a softer look about her than Dress Sutton, who was leaning against the wall, looking bored with everything.

Jean Sutton opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Dress Sutton. "Is this going to take long? I am in _need_ of a mani-pedi. Besides, there are a few people here who don't belong."

Laurel flinched at the harsh tone in her voice, and noticed that Jean Sutton had too.

Jean Sutton took a deep breath and began to speak once more. "Laurel, this is going to sound absolutely ridiculous. Sutton has a twin. I'm the twin. My name is Emma, and I've been Sutton for the past two weeks or so. It's nice to officially meet you!" Laurel saw Jean Sut- ...Emma attempt a smile, but it was slightly forced.

"This is either the best prank ever, or the worst real-life soap opera I've ever heard." Laurel blabbed, head falling into her hands.

Sutton, the _real_ Sutton, apparently, rolled her eyes. "Not a prank, real life, can we move on now?"

Laurel put up a hand, trying to figure out things in her head. "Wait. So, if Emma took your place, did you take hers?"

Emma bit her lip and glanced away. "Not...exactly. I don't really have a _place_. I ran away from my foster home, and came here. Sutton went to LA to find our birth parents, and I...tried not to mess everything up here."

"You failed." Sutton muttered, just a _bit_ too loudly.

Emma sighed, but said nothing.

"Wait...so... The Ethan thing... That was all Emma?"

"No." Sutton glared at Emma. "He used to be my boyfriend, and then my _twin_ stole him from me."

Emma looked guilty, and didn't even try to defend herself.

"Oh." Laurel said shortly. All this somehow made sense, but... How could all this drama have happened right underneath her nose? It was...unbelievable. "So... Now that you're back, where's Emma going?"

Sutton shrugged nonchalantly. "Don't know, don't care."

Emma looked away uncomfortably, and fingered the fringed edge of a bag that Laurel hadn't noticed. "I just came to get my bag... I'll be out of your hair soon."

"What?" Laurel yelled. "No!" She grabbed Emma's wrist. "You can't just _leave_."

"What?" Both Emma and Sutton asked at the same time, but in completely different tones. Emma was surprised, but pleasantly so. Sutton sounded like she would want nothing more than Emma disappearing forever.

"Well, you're Sutton's twin, which means they're part of the family. Which, of course, means that you can stay. Mom and Dad paid for Justin to stay here, why wouldn't they pay for you?"

Emma looked up suddenly. "No... I... I can't."

"Yeah." Sutton echoed, a sharp tone in her voice. "She can't."

Laurel unleashed her I-Am-The-Youngest-Child-So-I-Get-What-I-Want Glare. "You. Are. Staying. End of story."

"I can't!" Emma glanced at Sutton with wide eyes. "I just... I can't. Okay?"

Laurel pursed her lips, trying to decide if she should go off on her sister's twin or not. "Look... I don't know what going on, but you are a nice person, and since all those things with the foster family documentaries turned out to be a hoax, I'm pretty sure all that stuff happened to _you._ So you know what? You are going to _stay here_. Got it?"

Emma, stunned by Laurel's rant, said nothing. Sutton, too said nothing. A grunt and a stifled scream didn't count as words. The Mercer twin stormed out of the room, leaving Laurel and Emma alone.

"I really appreciate the offer, but I'm staying with Ethan for a while."

The blonde snorted. "In the trailer? No offense to that boy, but that's just not... not good."

"Honestly, right about now, I'd be afraid that if I stayed here, Sutton might slit my throat while I slept."

Laurel narrowed her eyes. "So, stay at Ethan's for a few days. Give Sutton a little time to cool down. Then, come here. Meanwhile, we'll get the parents used to the idea of a new twin... Er... let's not mention the "you were pretending to be Sutton for a few weeks" part, but once they get used to the idea, it'll be totally fine."

Emma opened her mouth to speak once more. "I don't know if that's a good idea..."

"Well, you don't get a choice." Laurel grinned. "Do you need a ride to Ethan's? I could drop you off..."

Emma was shocked to the extreme. "Yeah. A ride sounds good..." She said uncertainly... After all, it wasn't like she could drive Sutton's car anymore...

The blonde beamed. "Perfect!" She linked her arm through Emma's, and walked them both out the door, pausing a moment so Emma could grab her bag. "You can tell me _everything_ on the way there..."

* * *

><p>Justin rooted around in his "box of the past" and found what he was looking for... His old photo album, with all of his painstakingly printed photos in it.<p>

As a child, he had always had a strange fascination with photography. Any moment work capturing would be captured by him, and his out-of-date camera with a roll of film in it. He had many pictures of his family, and even more photos of his old cat, Snuffles.

There were a few of each foster family he was in... A few just of his fellow foster siblings, a few of the parents, and one group picture of every foster family he had been...

He looked through them in chronological order. He had been in five homes before he was "permanently" put into one in Oregon. The foster home that went to a school without a golf club... When he reached the second to last one, his least favorite one, he studied the group picture closely.

For some reason, this picture had been on his mind for the past few days.

It was always lurking in the back of his mind, but for the _life_ of him, he just couldn't figure out why! There had to be a reason, it just couldn't be...

Studying the picture closely while he thought, he jumped to his feet.

_There._

Standing in the picture, in the second, and last row, third from the right with a small, sad smile on her face was _Sutton Mercer._ Laurel's _sister_.

Justin turned over the picture so quickly it fell from his hands. He kneeled quickly, trying to pick up the photograph, but his hands were shaking so much, he just fumbled it about.

Finally, he picked it up, and turned it over. There, penciled in the semi-neat handwriting he called his own, were the names of everyone in the photograph. Justin quickly got to the line with the second row's names, and counted until he arrived at _Emma Becker._

...he had to tell Laurel.

Because somehow, he had discovered either Sutton's sister, or clone. Either way, it was important. He could feel it.

* * *

><p>"Home sweet trailer." Laurel quoted, slightly cynically. Her boyfriend might have lived in an abandoned home...but it was a very classy abandoned home...<p>

Emma grinned, not the least bit disturbed by Laurel's less than enthusiastic response to the trailer. "I've lived in worse... Besides, it's cozy."

"Right. Cozy."

Ethan strolled out from the admittedly, very cozy trailer, flicking his hair away from his eyes. He grinned when he saw Emma, but the grin faded just a bit when he saw Laurel. "Hey Sutton." He called out calculatingly.

"She knows... It's okay..." Emma told him, pressing a soft kiss to his cheek when she reached him.

"How?" Ethan asked, raising an eyebrow at the situation, but his tone was not sharp... More like, relaxed... Laurel realized that Ethan was calmed just by Emma. Her inner romantic cooed at the thought.

"Well," Laurel began, enjoying her moment in the spotlight. "I kind of walked in on them yelling at each other... Just listening to them, I thought Sutton had developed multiple personality disorder or something, but no, it's just a twin switcheroo situation."

The tan teen smirked at his girlfriend. "Multiple personality disorder, huh? I always knew Emma was crazy..."

"Hey!" She protested, shoving Ethan slightly. Emma then turned to Laurel. "Ignore him. He hit his head earlier this morning and hasn't been the same since.."

Laurel was laughing at the two. "You guys are so _cute_!" She squealed, laughing more as they flushed and broke apart.

Emma grinned uneasily at Laurel, trying to figure out what their relation was now. Were they sisters once more? Or friends? Perhaps they were like cousins? Or...sisters in law? All she knew was that Laurel was like the younger sister she had never had, and she would do anything she could to keep her.

"Well," the blonde began. "I'm gonna leave the two of you alone..." She winked at the two of them and walked to her car, driving off in a cloud of dust.

Emma smiled shyly up at her boyfriend. "So..."

He grinned back at her. "So..."

Her phone buzzed in her back jean pocket and she frowned. "I left Sutton's phone at the house... Who could be calling me?" She grabbed the phone and turned pale suddenly.

A picture of a cartoon devil was the background of the screen, with a caption. _Travis._

"Emma?" Ethan touched her shoulder lightly. "Are you okay?"

"Ethan... I've... I've got to take this, okay?" She walked about a hundred yards away before putting the phone to her ear. Ethan could only watch as she paled even more. Her lightly tanned skin turning white. She bowed her head as she spoke, and wiped at her eyes furiously, obviously fighting tears. Ethan clenched his fists at his side. He felt helpless, watching her, and knowing that he couldn't help. She clenched her arm around herself as she spoke. Suddenly, her head snapped up and her cheeks flushed with anger. She began yelling into the phone, and Ethan strained to hear, but could only make out words that didn't make any sense.

"_NO!...You just...can't do...if you...that wont work...just...NO!" _Emma hung up the phone, and, visibly shaken, worked her way back to Ethan. He pulled her into a hug as soon as she reached him.

They didn't speak, Ethan just held her close. He could feel the shoulder of his shirt becoming slightly damp, and he pulled Emma closer, sensing that she just wanted comfort.

They stayed like that for quite a while, holding each other. It was a few minutes before they broke apart. Ethan studied Emma closely... It didn't look like she was going to be able to make it.

Grinning crookedly at her, he tossed her over his shoulder and walked back to his trailer.

"_Ethan!_" She shrieked. "_Let me go!_"

"Hmm... No can do. Sorry."

Finally making it inside the trailer, he nodded to his brother, who was sitting at the kitchen table, having some coffee, who just raised an eyebrow at the spectacle. "Caveman much?" He muttered, turning back to his newspaper.

"I really kind of hate you right now." Emma muttered as he made his way back to his room, well, small space that belonged to him.

Ethan set her down on the bed and laid down on top of her, making sure not to squish her. "Is this better?" He asked nonchalantly as she struggled.

"Get off of me!" She yelled, as she struggled below him.

"Fine." Ethan rolled off, laying down next to her. He studied her face, noticing the smile that lightened up her features. "You're smiling again... Good."

She blushed, and turned her face away from him.

"Are you going to tell me what that was all about?" He asked finally.

"Sorry... No."

Ethan frowned. "Yeah. I thought not." He shrugged, although still deeply bothered. Anything that had Emma this troubled was more than troubling to him. He needed to know...

Meanwhile, Emma was more than worried... Travis was here, and he was going to meet her tonight... He had threatened her. And she had... Well, she had taken it. At the sound of his voice, Meek Foster Emma had returned, and Confident Rich Emma had vanished. She had thought about telling Ethan, but... Travis was dangerous, and Ethan was all out of favors when it came to the police. And... No. She wasn't going to think about that.

This would go down okay. It had to.

* * *

><p>At 4 am, Emma unwrapped herself from Ethan's arms, and walked over to her bag. She pulled on her sweatpants over her pajama shorts and pulled on a sweatshirt over her tank top. She slipped her feet into sneakers, and with one last glance back at Ethan, who was sleeping peacefully, left the trailer. She walked next to the gravel path, as she didn't want to alert anyone with the crunching the gravel would cause.<p>

She made it to the small clearing next to the junk yard, where she had (sadly) agreed to meet Travis.

She waited for a few minutes, and never stopped being eternally grateful for the Arizona heat. Even during the night, she wasn't cold... But she was bored. She looked around a few times, before leaning against a large tree and relaxing slightly...

Travis appeared in front of her suddenly, startling Emma slightly and causing her to jump. He looked as devious and creepy as he always had, with a five o'clock shadow that had grown too long, and a menacing grin on his face.

"Hey there, sis. How ya doing?"

He leaned against the tree, much too close to Emma for comfort. She backed away quickly, not wanting to be anywhere near him. "What are you doing here, what do you want?"

Travis smirked at her easily. "I thought I made that clear over the phone. I want money. You know, some of that cash you found here by impersonating your sister. What'd you do with her anyways? Kill her off?"

Emma clenched her jaw at this and glared at Travis with all her might, hoping against reason that looks _could_ kill, and that within seconds Travis would be burned worse than the chicken Laurel had attempted to cook for Justin a few nights ago.

Alas, no such thing occurred. "I'm living in a trailer right now, Travis. I have no clue what money you're talking about."

He shrugged nonchalantly, but somehow the gesture seemed menacing, and Emma shuddered slightly at it. "Then I suppose you'll have to pay me in other ways..."

Her eyes widened, and she shot off into the darkness, but Travis was anticipating this. He grabbed her around the middle, and was about to hoist her over his shoulder but a fist came out of the darkness and sent Travis flying to the ground, along with Emma. But before Emma was dragged to the ground along with her assaulter, she was caught by the same hand that had hurt Travis.

She looked up, shocked, into the dark eyes she had slowly fallen in love with. "You okay?" Ethan asked, looking Emma over for any injuries.

"What? But... but... you were sleeping!" Emma struggled to make sense of the situation. Travis had been about to... And then Ethan had rescued her, but where had he come from?

"I'll explain in a minute." Ethan promised her before turning and kicking Travis in the stomach ruthlessly. "Get up!" He commanded the squirming, slimy- Emma cut off her thoughts.

Travis stood slowly, glaring at Ethan. "Who the hell are you?"

"Actually, I think I should be asking that question. See, this here is Navajo land. Emma has permission to be here. You don't, therefore you are trespassing. We don't take kindly to trespassers." Ethan glared at the sniveling coward.

Emma frowned slightly, but didn't comment. After all, she was in no way an expert on Navajo customs...

"What about you?" Travis managed to spit out after a moment.

"I'm Navajo." Ethan explained, as if to a kindergartener. He rolled his eyes at Emma, as if to say _can you believe this idiot? _

Despite the situation, Emma giggled slightly.

"Well, Emma isn't! So I'll just take her now..."

"No." The single word was uttered by Ethan so coldly that Emma nearly jumped. Her warm, gentle Ethan suddenly seemed to her an ice sculpture.

"And what are you going to do about it?"

Ethan laughed softly. "Well, as I said before, I'm Navajo. Which means that your laws don't apply to me on my land. My brother is also a police officer. My friend's dad is the DA. And you have a record a mile long... Who do you think will come out on top in all this?"

Travis spit into the ground near Ethan's feet. "You won't always be around."

The dark skinned teen's eyes flashed with anger. "Yes. I. Will. And if I _ever _see you around here again, I'll beat you up ten times worse than I already have. You'll get beat up so bad, you'll be a freaking vegetable. Do we understand each other? Now go away. NOW!"

As Travis scurried away Emma embraced Ethan in a hard, desperate hug, knowing that he was her savior in every sense of the word.

She was so lucky to have him.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So... I decided not to end this on a cliffhanger for once.<strong>

**Now, to explain this chapter a bit. I loved Ethan beating up Travis so much that I just HAD to put it in. Similarly, Lexie (Emma's best friend) will also be appearing here one way or another. Thayer will appear...perhaps. And the more I thought about Justin meeting Emma before, the more it made sense. I mean, she's been in foster care, he's been in foster care, and we all know that on TV shows, there's no such thing as coincidence.**

**And once again, you can vote on what happens next!**

**1: Justin investigates, and causes trouble.**

**2: Sutton teams up with Thayer to get rid of Emma.**

**3: Lexie comes in, and...well, it's a surprise.**

**4: Justin is told by Laurel and Emma, and helps them with Sutton.**

**5: A certain relative of Ethan's comes back into the fold...**

**These are all ideas I've been considering, and I would love to hear what you would like to read.**

**Thanks for reading!  
><strong>

**-Marie **


	5. Of White Chocolate Mochas and Photos

**AN: Thank you for all the wonderful reviews and alerts! I know it's been a really long time, but you don't want to hear my excuses, you want to read the chapter. So without any further ado: **

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: (Sorry, one ado) I don't own the Lying Game... Now proceed...<strong>

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><p>Emma avoided Ethan's eyes, not wanting to see the derision in his eyes.<p>

A sound of frustration came from him, and she glanced up only to quickly look back down again. Suddenly, her shoes seemed very interesting. After all, the way the little strap on the sandal crisscrossed with the other one, and how they swirled upward around her ankle? Pure genius.

Her shoe studying was interrupted by Ethan's frustrated cry. "Will you just _look_ at me?"

In pure shock, she did so, shrinking back a tiny bit from him.

His face softened, and he reached out a gentle hand to her. "Please," he begged. "Don't...don't do that."

Emma said nothing, only biting her lip and looking into his eyes.

"I just..." He let out another frustrated sound, running his fingers though his hair. "I know what you saw me do was...bad, but I don't want you to be afraid of me."

Stunned, Emma let out a small, hysterical laugh. "Wait, _what?_"

Ethan turned his head and raised an eyebrow at her in confusion. "I...don't want you to be afraid of me?"

Once again, Emma laughed. "Why would I be afraid of you?" She asked in pure confusion, completely forgetting about her avoidance of him.

The Navajo boy looked even more confused than she was. "Why else would you be mad at me?"

"Mad at _you_?" Emma was blown away by the mere notion. "I thought you were mad at _me_!"

There was an awkward silence for a moment, before Emma spoke, this time, more softly. She leaned forward and grabbed Ethan's hand. "Why would I be afraid of you?" She repeated, looking directly into his eyes.

"I... I really roughed up that guy, and I don't want you to think that I'm violent, or that I'll do anything like that to you. I mean, that was... I'd never... And it's just..." He broke off, evidently not knowing what to say.

"Ethan, I can't thank you enough for doing that. He was going to... And then you came along! You're my freaking knight in shining armor. And I just want to add that it's kind of incredibly hot how badass you are." Emma smiled genuinely at him, squeezing his hand.

"Knight in shining armor?" Ethan grinned at her, looking as if the weight of the world (plus a galaxy or two) had been lifted off his shoulders. "So...you're not-"

"Afraid of you? No. Totally in awe of you? Yes." Emma bit her lip and leaned in for a brief kiss. When they broke apart, Ethan was smiling for a moment before he seemed to remember something.

"Why...why did you think I was mad at you?"

"Well... I kind of didn't tell you that my pervy foster brother was in town, and that he wanted to meet me in the middle of the night..."

Ethan rolled his eyes. "Well, yeah, that was stupid, but I can understand why you did it. Just...promise me you'll tell me next time, if anything like this ever happens again."

Emma nodded. "I promise. Now will you shut up and kiss me?"

Both grinning, they met in the middle for a long kiss that went unbroken for as long as they could hold their breaths.

Life was good.

* * *

><p>The next morning, after getting a very small amount of sleep, Emma woke up wrapped in Ethan's arms, feeling warm, protected, and everything she had never felt before she had come to Phoenix and masqueraded as Sutton.<p>

She laid in his arms, not moving for a little less than an hour. Finally, he woke up, and tightened his grip around her. "Good morning, beautiful." He greeted her, kissing her shoulder gently.

"You're too freaking sweet." She grumbled happily. "It's too early for sweetness."

"I'm sweet at every hour of the day," Ethan smirked. "get used to it."

Emma wrestled her way out of Ethan's arms, and pulled down her tanktop where it had ridden up slightly. Ethan groaned. "Don't leave..."

"Sorry, I promised Laurel I'd be ready at 10 to go to Starbucks." She grinned down at him, pecking him on the cheek before walking over to her bag and pulling out a pretty top and jeans.

"Why?" He asked, suddenly awake and sitting up in his bed, exposing part of his, admittedly, very developed chest.

Emma blushed and looked away. "I'm not sure... But she's been pretty awesome, and if she wants to go to Starbucks, we're going to Starbucks."

"You can get coffee later... Cuddling with me is a once-in-a-day opportunity. Maybe twice or three times if you're lucky, but still pretty rare."

"I'm pretty sure the term is once-in-a-lifetime." Emma corrected him, bemused.

"Well, considering I want to do this much, much more than once in my lifetime, I don't think it quite applies."

Emma, opened and closed her mouth, touched by his honesty. "You really are freaking sweet... Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go take a shower, and then change." She walked away briskly, trying not to show her wonder and absolute happiness at Ethan's admission. It almost sounded like he was in it for the long run... The thought thrilled her to the core.

She stepped into the tiny bathroom in the trailer, hardly large enough for a shower and a toilet...but it was clean, tidy, and it felt like...well, it felt like the rest of the trailer did. Like home.

A few minutes later, she was blow drying her hair with a suspiciously light red blow-dryer (according to Ethan, it was both very cheap, and _not pink_), and waiting for Laurel to call or text her cell. Finally, the text came, and Emma went outside, after giving a once-again sleeping Ethan a kiss on the cheek.

Laurel pulled up in a shiny convertible, and Emma hopped in, greeting her...whatever Laurel's relation to her was.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Emma with sudden alarm. "Wait, Laurel, is Sutton at home? I mean, what if someone sees the two of us out in public at the same time?"

Laurel laughed airily. "It's Sunday. Sutton won't be out of her bed until 3. We're safe."

"If you're sure..."

"She's my sister. I'm sure." Laurel paused. "But you're also my sister, and I barely know anything about you, so... talk."

Emma was shocked, but pleasantly so. A warm feeling grew in her chest as she spoke. "Sister?"

The blonde rolled her eyes under her bug-eyed sunglasses. "Well, duh. What else did you think you were?"

"...your sister's twin sister who was pretending to be your sister?"

"Exactly! Sister of my sister means you're my sister too. Therefore, I need to know about you, so talk."

Emma smiled. Even though she was probably going to be kicked out of Arizona by Sutton soon, she was feeling better about her situation than she had in ages.

The rest of the ride was filed with mindless chatter.

When they arrived at Starbucks, Laurel stepped up to the counter to order, and she quickly fired off an order for two grande white chocolate mocchiatos without thinking. When the order was taken, and Emma and Laurel had sat down on a cozy couch, Laurel had realized what she had done. "Oh no!" She cried suddenly. "I totally forgot... You might not like white chocolate mocchiatos... I mean, that's Sutton's order, and I just kind of blanked-"

Emma laughed, interrupting her. "I _love_ white chocolate mocchiatos. Don't worry."

"Hmm... Guess identical twins have identical taste buds... Who would have known?"

Their order was called, and while they were sipping their mocchiatos, Laurel got down to business.

"Okay. So here's what we're going to do. Today is Day 0. Now, tomorrow, the plan begins. Tomorrow is Day 1, and Sutton and I will spend the whole day being secretive and excited. Same with Day 2. Day 3, Sutton will noticeably leave the room during dinner and have a "top secret yet very exciting" phone conversation. Day 4, Sutton and I will leave the house and not come back until dark, not giving a reason why. On Day 5, Sutton will bring up the possibility of siblings during dinner. And finally, on Day 6, Sutton will introduce you to the family." Laurel bowed mockingly, as if waiting for applause, which Emma did not supply.

"I think you're forgetting one thing."

"What's that?" Laurel asked, smug smile already on her face.

"Sutton is kind of plotting my murder right about now."

"Oh." Laurel said, suddenly remembering. "Right. Well, I can persuade her."

Emma gaped at her. "How?"

"Well, it has something to do with the thousands of times I've covered for her, all of which I've written down..." Laurel winked at her new 'sister'. "Don't worry, I got ya covered."

Emma smiled looking at the blonde. "You know what? You're pretty freaking amazing."

"That's what I keep trying to tell her." A new voice joined the conversation. Laurel squealed when she saw Justin and leapt up to kiss him.

"What are you doing here?" She asked happily.

"Actually, I was just stopping by for a coffee on my way to see you... Both of you." He nodded at Emma.

"Wait, what?" The brunette asked, somewhat rudely. "I mean...why?"

Justin opened his string backpack and fished something out. He handed the something to Emma, who studied it closely. It was a picture, and the background was somehow familiar. Her eyes widened slightly when she recognized it, but she quickly masked her surprise. She remembered the foster home where the picture was taken, she even remembered taking the picture...

She barely remembered anything else though. The foster parents in that house had been horribly abusive and cruel. When Emma had stuck up for a small girl who was being smacked around for punishment, she was hit over the head hard with a ten-pound weight. She had woken up in the hospital, not knowing where she was or how she got there. She was told she had retrograde amnesia, and that the memories may or may not come back. They didn't.

Emma had always struggled with the hole in her memory that lasted just about a week. There were slight flashes of memory here and there, but for the most part, she remembered nothing.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she stared at the picture like she was supposed to, before she found herself. Mentally, she prepared herself for the acting of a life-time. "She looks exactly like me!" Emma gasped, pointing to the girl who was, of course, herself. "Who is she?"

Justin leaned forward smugly across the table set up in front of the couch. "Her name is Emma Becker... I was at a foster home with her for a few days... I think she might be your sister. Maybe even a twin."

"A twin." Emma whispered to herself, as if trying to get used to the thought of it. In reality, she still was, so it wasn't that hard to pretend. "I have a...a _twin_."

"Nothing's certain yet." Justin warned, obviously trying to make sure that his girlfriend's sister didn't get too excited over something that might not even mean anything. "We still have to track her down."

Emma looked up. "Well, we _have_ to track her down! I mean, I might have a _sister_! Another sister! Can you believe it?" She turned to Laurel, who was watching the scene quietly, with a sense of shock. Emma tried to send her a message with her eyes. _Play along_, she begged.

"Another sister." Laurel grinned suddenly. "I like the sound of that... Hey, Thayer's in town again. He's like, a computer genius... Do you think we could take this picture to him, maybe he'll be able to track this Emma person down!"

Justin nodded happily. "Sounds good..." He pulled in Laurel for a long kiss, and they broke apart panting and gasping for breath.

Emma pretended not to be mildly disturbed by their make-out session. After all, Justin had just provided the perfect plan... With this and Justin, convincing Mr. and Mrs. Mercer that she was an innocent twin who needed a home would be much easier...

Now all they had to do was convince Sutton.

* * *

><p>"No."<p>

"But, Sutton..." Laurel pleaded. "This is the only way... please?"

"No, absolutely not." The Mercer twin refused, refusing to look at Emma, who was perched awkwardly in the desk chair.

"We already came up with everything, all you have to do is play along..." The blonde informed Sutton, one hand on her hip, the other in the air to show her exasperation.

"Too bad. I'm not doing it." Sutton refused loftily, as if she didn't know exactly what her refusal meant.

Emma bit back a retort, deciding that staying out of it was the best thing for their cause.

Laurel narrowed her eyes while raising one eyebrow...Emma had been around her enough to know that this was her "devious" face. "How about you do it?" She asked sweetly.

Sutton laughed coldly. "How about I don't?"

"Sorry, I don't think I phrased that correctly. How about you do it, and then I won't tell Mom and Dad about all those times I had to cover for you? I wrote them all down..."

"Go ahead!" Sutton scoffed, but appeared a bit uneasy.

"That list includes the time you cheated on Ethan, the time you got drunk and flashed a bunch of people at that club downtown, that time you spent the night with a guy ten years older than you..." Laurel smirked. "Do you really want Mom and Dad knowing all that?"

Emma tried to shut her mouth, but the things Laurel had listed were just so...disturbing. Who the hell would _cheat _on _Ethan_? Not to mention _flashing_ people, and performing statutory rape...

Sutton pursed her lips but said nothing.

"Well?" Laurel demanded, obviously enjoying prodding her sister (that is, of course, if you judged by the huge smirk on her face..).

"Fine." Suddenly, Sutton smirked, something that, Emma guessed, did not bode well for the plan. "But how are you going to explain Ethan? After all, Mom and Dad won't appreciate my new twin sister showing up and stealing my boyfriend..."

Laurel grinned. "We've already got that planned out... So don't worry about it." She grabbed Emma's hand and tugged her out of Sutton's room, only stopping for a quick, "Thanks sis!" at the door.

As they walked down to Laurel's car, Emma was more than a little frazzled. "How could you tell her we've already got that planned out? We don't have it planned out!"

The blonde nodded slowly. "I know, but we'll get it planned out... We just have to talk to Ethan."

Emma leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes, trying to push everything from her mind and just enjoy the feel of the wind in her hair. She failed.

Laurel glanced over at her new sister. "Hey," she said, nudging her. "don't feel too bad. We'll get it all figured out."

"I don't see how... Either Ethan hates me, your parents hate me, your parents hate Ethan, or your parents hate us both."

"_Or_ they love both of you." Laurel shrugged. "I kinda like my option better."

"Your option isn't possible. That's the problem with it."

"Tsk tsk... so pessimistic." Laurel chided, wagging her finger at the brunette.

"I think I have a reason to be!" Emma pouted slightly.

"Everyone has a reason."

Emma didn't reply for a while. by the time she felt ready to say something, they were already at Ethan's, and there was no time.

Ethan was waiting for them, sitting on the step that led to his trailer, head in his hands. He immediately perked up when he saw the car come in from the distance and when Laurel pulled up, he rushed to the car to open the door for Emma.

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Since when are you a gentleman?"

"Since I got the most amazing girlfriend in the world."

Emma grinned and pecked his cheek before grabbing his hand and pulling him towards Laurel. "Okay... So, something crazy happened. Well, two crazies happened."

The Navajo boy raised an eyebrow at her. "How so?"

It was Laurel who jumped in. "We've got a legit excuse for Emma... Justin found an old photo of her at a foster home... If anyone asks, we got Thayer to trace 'Emma Becker', and when we found her, we gave her the address, and _ding dong_ she shows up at the door!"

"Sounds great." Ethan smirked, before his face suddenly fell. "Wait, what about the whole, me and you dating thing?"

"Yeah... That's... That's a problem." Emma avoided her boyfriend's gaze. "I just... There's no way I can figure out how to make it nice and neat and clean and believable..."

"What if we tell them that... That I've always known about you, and that Sutton suspected, and that we were only together to find you?" Ethan brainstormed, rambling slightly.

Emma smiled gently at him, waiting for him to realize just how his idea could go wrong...

"There's no way, Ethan." Emma told him. "We can use the excuse for a lot of people, but... But we have to tell Sutton's parents... And Char and Mads... But any other way we do it, it ends up with me stealing Sutton's boyfriend... Which is kind of what happened."

"Hey." He chided her, touching her face gently and looking into her eyes. "You didn't steal me. I stole you."

"You thief..." They kissed briefly, and it would have gone on for longer if it hadn't been for Laurel.

"Cough. Cough. Clear throat obnoxiously." She intoned sarcastically, but her tone was warm. "Now that we're done with all the fuzziness, what are we gonna do?"

Ethan furrowed his brows as Emma blushed. "What if we told everyone that I was a twin too?" He asked.

"Call it intuition," Laurel began, "but I don't think that's going to work."

"You have to break up with Sutton." Emma finally told him.

"I already did?"

"No, I mean, break up with Sutton, wait a few months, and then fall in love with me." Emma explained.

"Why wait a few months?"

"Because, generally, that's about how long it takes to fall out of then in love with someone." The brunette informed him, smiling slightly.

"One month." Ethan bargained, grinning crookedly at her.

"Three." Emma told him, narrowing her eyes playfully. She didn't want to spend more time away from Ethan, but she really had no choice.

"One."

"...I'll just go with two." Emma told him, deciding to be generous. "But that's as low as I'm going."

"Two. Okay. I can do two. As long as I still get to kiss you..." He brought her in for said kiss, but she resisted.

"I think we've traumatized Laurel enough..." She glanced at her sister, who was looking away pointedly.

"Oh!" She said, turning away. "Have you stopped making out for a few seconds?"

Ethan coughed uncomfortably. "Sorry..." He muttered.

Laurel shrugged, her earrings dangling as she did so. "It's cool. Now that we've got a plan... Ethan, go break up with Sutton. Emma and I are going to go have a spa day."

As Laurel was turning around to sit down in her car, Emma stole a quick kiss from Ethan. He smiled at her. "So, we've got it all figured out."

"Yeah... Listen, you go break up with Sutton, I'm going to go...have a spa day. And after that, we'll meet back here, and..." She looked at him. "And I'm ready. So..."

He grinned, but just nodded. "We'll talk more later."

She gave him a quick hug before bounding after Laurel, who was sitting in the driver's seat impatiently.

* * *

><p>Mrs. Mercer stared at the homecoming picture of Sutton. She was dressed up in a blue dress, looking happier than she had ever seen her. Ethan was holding her close and they were laughing about something.<p>

This Sutton didn't laugh. For some reason or another, for a few weeks, Sutton had turned _nice_, but then she had reverted back to her old, bitter self.

She could still remember the moment it had happened. Sutton had snuck out at around 11 pm to go see Ethan (she knew all about this of course, nothing happened in the house without her knowing), and when she had come back an hour later, she was... different.

Sutton had walked in, yelling out "Mother" instead of "Mom" and when her "Mother" had gone to give her a hug, she had been pushed away. Sutton retired to her room early, looking angry for some reason.

Perhaps she had gotten into a fight with Ethan, but that was...just impossible. Ethan and Sutton cared _so_ much about each other, it was unthinkable that something had gone wrong in their relationship.

Lost in thought, Mrs. Mercer didn't notice the doorbell ringing until a knock on the door sounded through the house. She opened it up to find Ethan standing there, looking nervous.

"Er... Hi, Mrs. Mercer, is Sutton home?" He asked, biting his bottom lip.

"She's in her room," she smiled widely at him. "I'm sure she'll be glad to see you... Come on in!"

Ethan stepped in, and excused himself to Sutton's room. Mrs. Mercer followed stealthily. Once he was in the room, she stood outside, slightly uneasily.

"Sutton, we need to talk." He said seriously.

"Talk? I thought I made it clear, I don't want to do that."

Mrs. Mercer heard whispering before Ethan cleared his throat and spoke once more. "This was amazing, but I can't go on with it anymore. There's a lot going on, both things you're aware of and things you're not."

"I know... It's been coming for a while now, it's just...time to accept it. I thought for a while that you were the one, but now it's obvious that you just weren't. I don't want to be cliché, but I hope we can still be friends."

She raised an eyebrow. Was this really her little girl? There was no way that _Sutton _could be acting this maturely. As if someone on the inside of the room had read her mind, the voices began again.

"Well, all that, and... Well, sorry, but you were getting kind of boring!" Sutton blurted, suddenly bursting out into laughter, joined in a moment by Ethan.

"I'm really glad this all went so well... You have no idea how much I was stressing this." Ethan informed her.

There was a pause and then the door opened. Out walked Ethan, with a sort of relaxed yet still slightly nervous smile on his face. He started when he saw her. "Oh! Hi Mrs. Mercer... I was just leaving."

"Okay, then. It was nice seeing you again, Ethan." She smiled at him politely while wondering what had gone wrong in his and her daughter's relationship. Everything had seemed so perfect. She had a hard time believing that something so lovely had gone wrong.

Once Ethan had left, she was about to go and comfort Sutton, because after all, even if it was mutual, it was a _break-up_, when she heard something curious. Feeling guilty for eavesdropping at the door twice, she hurried along, but not before she heard something that made her head spin.

_"Yeah, it's done. You're welcome."_

What could that have meant?

* * *

><p><strong>Yes, yes, I know... Bad authoress! How dare you! It's been so long! Well, you can save your rotten tomatoes to throw at me until the end of this author's note, because there's some things I need to discuss. How should Char and Mads react to Emma?<strong>

**1: They could be completely welcoming.**

**2: They could be slightly suspicious.**

**3: They could be incredibly and utterly hostile.**

**4: They could completely ignore her.**

**I'm open to any of these, so if you have some preferences, let them be known! I'll try to get the next update done within a week, but if I don't, don't hate me.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**-Marie**

**PS: Now is the time to unleash the rotten tomatoes.**


	6. In Which Siblings Are Discussed

**AN: I know this is really very short, but I was honestly just focused on updating... I'm trying to update every Monday, even though it might not always work out that way. Okay. That's it... Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Lying Game**

* * *

><p>If Ted had not been concerned when Sutton had reverted to her old, rude, spoiled child-esque behavior, he was certainly concerned now.<p>

It had been a few days since Sutton had become herself again, and he was more than a little curious what had happened. The curiosity had only grown when, in the middle of their customary Sunday dinner, her phone had vibrated, and with a look of shock, she had run out of the room to take the call. The curiosity reached a near bursting point when he realized that Laurel was practically bouncing in her seat from excitement.

He had, of course, tried to figure out what was going on. He had questioned his daughters, though that had led nowhere, and he had questioned his wife, though that only served to confuse both of them. Especially when she had told him of the conversation she had overheard when outside Sutton's door. After a few failed attempts to steal Sutton's phone and look at the number that had called (she had erased the call history), he could finally not take it any longer and sat down his daughters on the couch to give them a stern talking to.

"I'm not mad... I just want to know what's going on." Sutton and Laurel exchanged a look before Laurel raised an eyebrow and Sutton merely shook her head.

Mr. Mercer sighed with exasperation. "Look, _something_ is happening here, and I need to know what that something is."

Sutton copied her sister's look then, and with her own raised eyebrow spoke. "What if it's a private matter?"

"I'm your father! There are no private matters!"

Just then, Sutton's phone vibrated and she and Laurel both quickly leaned in to look at the text. Before he could snatch the damned phone away from his daughter, the two of them jumped up.

"It was nice talking to you, Dad!" Laurel chirped.

"Yeah! Great! We should do it again sometime!" Sutton echoed before they both ran out the door.

Ted could only gape with shock at the dismissal before he jumped to his feet and ran toward the door to shout at the girls who were getting into the car. "We haven't finished talking about this!"

"Bye Dad!" Both girls yelled back at him before Sutton's car disappeared into the horizon at a speed that was almost certainly over the limit.

Mr. Mercer leaned against the doorway, pinching the bridge of his nose in between his fingers. He started when his wife appeared next to him, having not hear her coming. "When are they coming back?" She asked him, laying a calming hand on his shoulder.

"I have no clue..."

* * *

><p>Laurel was practically in hysterics on the floor. "Oh, you should have seen the look on his <em>face<em>! He was like... like... I don't even know how to explain it!" She laughed while Emma and Ethan watched on bemusedly from the bed.

"Sounds... funny." Emma commented, slightly confused to what the look on his face had to do with their plans. When she voiced this thought though, her new _sister _brushed it away.

"Oh, nothing... But it was just so _funny_!" Grinning, the blonde calmed down and crossed her legs, sitting up. "So, how are you guys doing?"

"Considering the fact that I can't leave the trailer... Pretty good! Especially because Ethan is here..." Feeling said boyfriend's arm sneaking around her waist, Emma beamed at Laurel. "How are you?"

"Fantastic! Justin took me out on this date, it was _so_romantic! He took me to this park, and led me all the way to this one hill, and-"

"I'm sorry, but I can't really listen to this." Ethan apologized, excusing himself from the conversation. He unwound himself from Emma and stretched, revealing a small amount of tan skin around his navel that Emma's eyes were magnetically drawn to. She shook herself out of her stupor when he got out of the stretch and bent down to peck her lips. "I'll talk to you later." He promised her before stepping out of the room with a nod to Laurel.

Emma gazed after him for one long moment before turning her attention back to her sister. "I'm sorry, continue?"

Laurel immediately brightened and launched into her story. "So, he leads me to this hill, and it's absolutely _covered_ in candles... I only found out later that they were electric, because he didn't want the hill to catch on fire or anything, but anyways... And there's this blanket and a picnic basket..."

The brunette listened to the blonde blabber on about her boyfriend and how amazing he was and how great the date was for about an hour. Others would be bored to tears by this point, and while it was true that Emma wasn't absolutely thrilled to be listening to it all, she did have a warm feeling in her heart from the mere activity of listening to sisterly gossip. Finally, Laurel ran out of things to talk about, and so she turned her attention to Emma.

"So, how are you and Ethan?"

Emma nodded slowly, a slow grin spreading across her face. "Amazing... I just... It's amazing."

"How's... you know... the..." Laurel gestured with her hands and waggled her eyebrows a bit while Emma looked on in horror.

"We uhh... We haven't done that yet."

The blonde gaped. "But you _share_ a _bed_!"

"We just kiss, and cuddle and stuff..."

"Don't you want to though?"

"Well, I never really imagined my first time being in a trailer with his brother sleeping on the couch in the next room..."

"_First time_?"

"Can we talk about something else? Please?"

"No. Now, are you really saying that you've _never_ had sex?"

"Yes. Now let's change the subject."

"Fine, fine... Are you planning to anytime soon though?"

_"LAUREL!"_

* * *

><p>Sutton glared at her sister. "I really don't want to do this." The blonde grinned cheerfully back.<p>

"Oh, well. It's not like anyone really asked you."

The brunette rolled her eyes. "It's my life too, you know."

"I know. You made that perfectly clear when you bitched at Emma when you got home." Laurel glared at her adopted sister.

"It's my life! Not hers!"

"There's plenty of room in this family for her and you know it! Stop acting like a spoiled brat and _help your sister!_"

"Why? So she can come in here, steal my boyfriend, my sister, my parents and my friends all in one swoop? Oh, little Emma, so perfect, so abused, so nice and sweet... How can she be related to _Sutton_, the manifestation of all that is evil?" Sutton mocked, glaring fiercely at the bracelet she was currently wearing as though it was the source of all her troubles.

Laurel groaned. "Oh my god... Stop throwing yourself a pity party and just do what you're supposed to do. Once Emma shows up, you can drop the act and be the spoiled bitch you've always been. Just do this for your sister. She's already done enough for _you._"

There was silence for a moment before Sutton began speaking slowly. "Laurel... Does... Do... Do you think Mom and Dad will like her more than me?"

Laurel raised an eyebrow, suddenly feeling her anger ebb away. "No. No, they won't. You're their daughter, and even if they adopt Emma or something, there's no way that they'll stop loving you!"

"Are you sure?" Sutton asked, obviously feeling more than a little vulnerable at the moment.

"Yeah. I'm sure."

"And... you won't either?"

"I won't either." Laurel promised.

"Well then," Sutton said, standing up and dusting off her dress. "Let's do this."

* * *

><p>Kristen looked at her two girls, who were eating silently for the most part, as they were whispering back and forth constantly. It was for this reason that she sat up straight with a jolt when Sutton suddenly spoke.<p>

"Did you guys ever think about having more kids?"

Ted and Kristen exchanged glances, stupefied by the question. "Well," Kristen began. "Yes, but we had trouble conceiving... Even Laurel was a surprise... We always wanted a big family, but it didn't turn out that way, and we're so happy with what we have..."

"What brought this on?" Ted asked.

Sutton and Laurel exchanged a look before Laurel sighed and began to speak. "Well, we were looking around on a few of those 'how to cope with being adopted' web sites, because we were hoping to find advice for finding birth parents... There was this section on finding relatives, and it made us wonder if Sutton had any brothers or sisters..."

"Oh, honey... I don't know. But you know what? We're going to keep looking for your birth mother, and if we find her, we'll ask." Kristen told Sutton, who gave a meek smile in return.

"I can't imagine having another sibling..." Laurel muttered loudly while staring at her mashed potatoes.

"Another sibling?" Ted asked, choking on a piece of his steak.

The blonde looked up, wide-eyed and innocent. "Well, yeah. I mean, Sutton's my sister, so if she had siblings, they'd be my siblings too, right?"

Kristen felt her heart melt a little inside her chest as she looked at her two mismatched yet perfect daughters. "Yeah. Yeah that's right."

* * *

><p>Laurel opened up her laptop and quickly called Emma on the video chat. Sutton sat next to her and began to paint her nails with a sparkly gold.<p>

Laurel tapped her foot impatiently before a video chat window opened. "Emma! Thank god! I was beginning to think-" She stopped suddenly, gaping at the screen.

Sutton looked up from her intense self-manicure. "What happened to Emma?"

"Who's Emma?" Justin asked bemusedly from the screen.

"Hi... Justin. Hi." Laurel squeaked out, causing Sutton to roll her eyes.

"So who's this Emma person?" Justin asked once more, grinning uneasily.

"One of my friends from Paris." Sutton lied smoothly. "We stayed in touch, and she's thinking about visiting."

"Oh... Not... Not Sutton's Twin Emma, right?"

Laurel sighed. "You got me... We're trying to establish contact, but so far, nothing's really working. We're trying to keep it all hushed up though, so... if you wouldn't mind?"

"Yeah, of course! I won't say anything."

Suddenly, a new window popped up on screen, this time a video chat with Emma and Ethan filling the screen. Laurel and Sutton glanced at each other and the blonde quickly muted the window, turning back to Justin's.

"Hey, baby, I have to go... Sutton's demanding a sister spa day... But I'll talk to you soon, okay?"

"Okay... Bye, Laurel!"

"Bye, hun!"

She then quickly closed the window before un-muting Emma's and Ethan's, who were both wearing expressions of complete and utter confusion. "What the hell was that?" Ethan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Long story... Justin kind of video chatted me, and I had to get him off so we could talk... How's everything on your end?" Laurel asked, grinning at her sister and her boyfriend.

"Pretty good, considering we're not really doing anything." Emma answered, smiling softly. "How are you guys doing?"

"We just did the 'could there possibly be any siblings' thing... So, we're all set. Tomorrow's the big day!" Laurel grinned, feeling her happiness level skyrocket.

Emma smiled nervously and Ethan put an arm around her shoulder, squeezing her slightly. She gave him a thankful smile. "Did you guys talk to Thayer?"

"Yeah, I did... He's going to back up our story if anyone asks..." Sutton answered, stretching out her arm languidly to see how the gold nail polish looked from a distance. "Is that it? Because there's some pomegranate bath salts that are just calling my name."

"That's it I think. Thanks, Sutton. For doing this." Emma spoke, grinning from the reality that she just might be able to have a family after all.

"Yeah, thanks." Ethan thanked her as well, albeit slightly gruffly.

"You're welcome, I suppose." With that, Sutton walked off, leaving Laurel alone, speaking to Emma and Ethan.

There was silence for a moment while Emma waited for Sutton to leave. Then, she spoke. "Did they seem open to the idea of siblings? I mean, did you ask them the question about wanting more kids?"

"They definitely seemed open to it. No matter _how_ shady Dad is, he and Mom have always wanted a big family."

Ethan spoke next. "And you're sure that they'll take to Emma well?" He glanced at his girlfriend, more than a little protectively.

Laurel hesitated before answering. "Well, no, I'm not completely sure. I mean, I'm not them... But... I don't know. I mean, Dad put Justin up in an apartment just because he was my boyfriend. For his daughter's sister, I'm pretty sure he'll be willing to pull out all the stops. Not to mention Mom, and her love of absolutely anyone who's polite... You'll be fine, Emma. One way or another."

"Yeah, I hope so."

"It's getting late." Emma spoke, glancing at something outside of Laurel's view. "Shouldn't you be getting started on your homework? I mean, you got assigned that essay on World War I that's due when school starts again. I know you got a week break and all, but that's really no excuse."

Laurel gaped open-mouthedly at Emma before bursting out into laughter. "I'm not sure how I _ever_ thought you were Sutton! But yeah, you're probably right. I should get started on that... Night Emma! Good night Ethan!"

"Night!" The two echoed before Laurel closed the video chat.

She tried to get started on the essay, but she really couldn't focus. After all, D-Day was in less than 24 hours... What was a girl to do?

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hi, okay... So, we're getting very near Emma's reveal, which will be next chapter. I don't have it written yet (I just finished writing THIS chapter...) but I'll try to upload it next Monday. After that, there will only really be about two or three chapters. This was never really meant to be a long fic, and I don't want to stretch it out. <strong>

**I'd really appreciate it if you reviewed, but I'm not going to beg... a lot. So, review please!**

**-Marie**

**PS: Wow... I just finished watching this week's episode... Did anyone see it coming that Ted had anything to do with Justin's parents? I mean, I didn't! And then there was that ending scene with Emma walking away... And Sutton telling Emma that she wanted her in her life. Psh... I call BS. Anyways, that's my little rant. Anyone want to rant back, just review or PM me! I'll be happy to talk.**


	7. The Shiny Red Apple of Surprise

**AN: For the first time in a while, you will not require a mob, flaming torches, or sharp, pointy pitchforks. Yes, that's right, Ladies and Gents, I have finally updated on time! Now, go on and read...**

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: I don't own the Lying Game<strong>

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><p>It was night, and all was dark. All Emma could make out in the blackness that choked her was the red harsh light of the alarm clock's numbers that showed a time which horrified her to the bone. She squeezed her eyes shut, reminded all too much of another night during which she was reminded time and time again that her life as Sutton wouldn't last. And it hadn't.<p>

But now, she knew that when the alarm clock's numbers showed a much more pleasant time, she would have another chance. She could have a life not unlike the one in her wildest dreams. She could have it all! A family, a home, Ethan… _Ethan_. The name reverberated in her head.

What if, once she lost the intrigue of being 'the mysterious twin', he didn't want her anymore? What if he wouldn't want her if she was actually compared to Sutton in every way? What if he decided that Sutton, was in fact, better for him? What if instead of her own prudish self, he wanted someone who could 'satisfy' him?

Before Emma knew what she was doing, she found herself leaning back into Ethan, whose arm was flung carelessly around her as he slumbered, flat on his stomach. She needed to feel his warmth, his presence, the tangible reality that he was _there_.

Of course, though he was the primary thought on her mind (just like always), she also was very (_very_) worried about other upcoming events, such as her 'reveal' to the Mercer family. She knew that (in theory) Kristen and Ted were two exceptionally caring people, and that they wouldn't dream of turning anyone away who needed their help, but with all the drama that had been occurring as of late, would they still be so excepting? She knew that in all probability, the answer was 'yes', but then again, her life had always been very against the odds, mostly in a bad way.

After all, she had been all set to live with a caring _rich_ family, and instead she had ended up in an orphanage and then foster home after foster home. If she wasn't unlucky, who was?

Her train of thought was interrupted by a sudden shifting of the mattress, signaling to her that Ethan was awake. She smiled at him in the dark, his face illuminated slightly by the moonlight and what she saw sent a shudder of desire down her spine. He was perfect. Utterly and completely flawless.

"Hey," he greeted her, wrapping an arm around her and pulling him to her in a comforting manner. "What are you doing awake?"

"I could ask you the same question," she evaded.

"Had a bad dream," he explained with a nonchalant shrug. "I guess the stress must be getting to me."

"Same." She answered, though it was not exactly true. She had not slept at all, let alone dreamt.

"You're lying."

His words startled her. "How could you tell?"

"You wouldn't look me in the eyes," Ethan informed her, sitting up and taking her chin gently in the fingers so her eyes met his own. "Which is such a shame, because you have such beautiful eyes."

"You can barely see anything, how can they be beautiful?"

"Your eyes are beautiful in any light. Now, tell me what's wrong." He grinned at her, the smile easily taking any harshness out of the words that might have been there.

Emma sighed, leaning back into him as he pulled her onto his lap and held her close. "I'm just worried about tomorrow, I guess… And, you know, about you."

She could feel him stiffen. "About me?"

"I mean… It's going to be hard to sneak around all the time, and I really don't want to hide our relationship, because I know how much of a hard time you had with that before, and I really want it to all be out in the open, but we just can't do that, and I don't want you to leave me or anything because I really just want to _be_ with you, and I can't do that with the Mercers watching all the time, that is, if they even _want me_, which, you know, I doubt-" The rest of her words were cut off by the hard press of Ethan's lips against hers. She kissed back for a few moments before pulling away.

"What was that?"

"_That_," he breathed, leaning in once more, "was to stop you from blabbing on about things that will never be true. The Mercers will want you, and I, well… I'm always going to want you. I love you, Emma, and that isn't going to change just because you're getting a family that you really, _really_ deserve."

"I love you too!" Emma whispered to him as she kissed him once more. The kiss lasted for quite a few moments, and only the lack of oxygen forced them to pull away from each other. "So…"

Ethan grinned, his white teeth gleaming in the dim moonlight. "So…"

"Why weren't you sleeping?" She asked him curiously, laying her head on his chest, feeling much better now that the boy she _loved_ had reassured her of a happy ending.

He tensed a bit under her, and, realizing something was truly wrong, she turned to face him. "Ethan? I told you why I wasn't sleeping… could you please tell me?"

The Navajo boy sighed, and for a second Emma thought he wouldn't tell her anything at all. "Like I said, it was a bad dream... A nightmare actually. It was… really bad. Not gory or anything, but just… bad."

"In what way?" Emma asked quietly.

"Well, I had this dream that the Mercers adopted you, and that you were really happy with your new life."

"And how is that a nightmare? I mean… Is it bad for me to be happy? I don't understand." Emma informed him, knowing that he wouldn't be so shallow to care so little for her happiness, but the insecurities inside her began to grow.

"No, no! All I want is for you to be happy, just… Once you were really adopted, and it was all finalized, you decided that you didn't want me anymore. That I wasn't good enough or rich enough to be with you, so you dumped me."

Emma gaped at him before smiling gently and kissing the underside of his jaw. "Well, at least we can totally rule out _that_ possibility. I don't care about how much money you have, Ethan. I'm much, much poorer than you, and I don't feel that money counts at all. I love you, for _you_. There's no possibility of me dumping you in the future, so just stop thinking about it, okay?"

He grinned back down at her. "Yeah, okay… Wow. Look at us. All insecure, and in love…"

"Mmmm…' She murmured sleepily. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

She fell asleep like that, lying on Ethan. For once in her life, Emma felt warm, content, and absolutely safe and protected.

* * *

><p>"Can we go back to bed?" Emma asked Ethan, completely and utterly serious.<p>

"No, Emma. You have to do this."

"But… I've thought about it, and I really, _really_ don't want to." She informed him, staring wide-eyed at Sutton's car, which was just pulling up to Ethan's trailer.

He grinned and pulled her close to him, smiling down at her. "Apparently, I know you better than you know yourself, because I know that you _do_ want to do this. You'll regret it for the rest of your life if you don't take this chance, so, as your boyfriend, I'm very _strongly_ encouraging you to do it."

"What if everything goes wrong?" She asked him quietly as Sutton parked the car and waited impatiently for her while Laurel fiddled around with the radio.

"Then we'll continue on living here, in my tiny old trailer until we can leave for college. Does that sound like a plan?"

"Mmm…" Emma agreed, brushing her lips against Ethan's lightly. "Sounds like a very good plan."

He brought her in for another quick kiss before she pulled away, biting her lip lightly, and smiling softly up at him. "Well, if I'm going to do this, I might as well get it over with. Wish me luck!" She kissed him once more, softer this time, and slower. They both knew that their time together was limited, or at least for the next two months. She smiled at him and pecked him just one more time before striding away, towards Laurel and Sutton who were sitting in Sutton's shiny silver convertible.

She jumped into the back, sliding on sunglasses to hide the nervous tears that had suddenly sprung to her eyes. "So, how are we going to do this?" Emma asked, settling into the comfy seat.

Sutton looked at her in the rearview mirror. "I was thinking you and Laurel go in, they greet you, thinking it's me, and then I walk in, saying I forgot my phone in the car."

"But that's so dramatic!" Emma protested. "Wouldn't it be easier to just walk in, all three of us?"

Sutton sniffed. "Fine… But I like my way better."

Laurel groaned impatiently, running a hand through her shoulder length blonde hair. "Guys, the important thing isn't how we enter the house, it's how well we know the story. Now, let's run through it one more time."

The twins groaned simultaneously. "Laurel, honey, I love you and all, but if I go through the story one more time, I'm going to hurl." Emma told her sister.

"Agreed!" Sutton said before reaching forward and turning up the radio, which Laurel had turned down for the story repetition that had never taken place.

The rest of the drive was spent in relative silence as all three girls were contemplating the situation they were currently entering.

* * *

><p>Kristen Mercer sat down heavily at the kitchen counter. "Where could the girls be?" She asked, massaging her forehead with one hand. "They're <em>never<em> up before ten on a day with no school, and yet, at seven am, they're just _gone_? What could they be doing?"

Ted shrugged his shoulders aimlessly while reaching sneakily for a very delicious looking red apple that was sitting innocently on the counter. Kristen noticed, however, and smacked his hand away.

"There will be no eating until we find the girls! Where could they be?"

"Maybe they snuck out last night and didn't come back?" Ted suggested, staring at the same apple and looking as if he were about to drool. "Honey, can I please have the apple? I'm really hungry."

"No," Kristen mused, ignoring her husband. "They didn't leave a note… Usually when they sneak out, they leave a note saying that they went for coffee or something…"

"Maybe they weren't planning on sneaking out." Ted finally began to wonder about his daughters' surprise disappearance. "Maybe something came up?"

"But what?" Kristen asked, fingering the same apple that Ted had looked at so longingly, twisting the stem until it was only hanging on by a thread.

Ted snapped his fingers in an 'eureka' moment. "It probably has something to do with them acting strangely the past few days!"

"But how could that be connected to this?"

"I'm not sure, we just have to wait until they get home and ask them."

"But what if they're not coming home? What if they've run away, or been kidnapped, or raped? What if they're dead _right now_?" Kristen burst out sobbing and Ted proceeded to comfort her with a hug, although he was still staring at the shiny, mouthwatering red apple that had been placed once more on the counter.

Suddenly, both parents froze as they heard voices coming from the front entrance.

"Relax," they heard Laurel say. "They'll just have to-"

Their blonde haired daughter was interrupted by Kristen flinging open the door and launching herself at her and Sutton.

"Where _were_ you two? We were _so worried_!" She screeched, hugging tighter and tighter while the two girls turned slightly blue in the face.

Ted leaned against the doorway, finally biting into the delicious apple. He moaned slightly as the delicious juices ran down his throat. The wait had been completely worth it.

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><p>Emma squirmed in Kristen's tight grip, but the sudden impact of the woman <em>flying<em> onto her and just _grabbing_ her in a huge, bone-crushing hug had completely knocked the wind out of her, and so she could only gasp for air.

"Mom!" Laurel didn't seem to have the same problem. "Mom! Let us go!"

"I was so _worried_!" Kristen repeated again, not letting go, and instead, only squeezing harder.

"_Mom!_" Laurel squealed. "Let _go_!"

But Kristen just proceeded to hug the girls even _tighter_, something which Emma didn't think could possibly occur until it did.

"Mom, you seriously need to let them go." A new voice chimed in as Sutton made her way up the long driveway where she had parked her car and incidentally, also forgotten her phone. "You've probably crushed their lungs enough by now."

"Sutton?" Ted and Kristen shouted as one as Kristen let go of the two girls she had grabbed. Both stumbled away, but the brunette one, the one who looked _just like_ Sutton, was breathing much more heavily, and had to lean against Laurel to regain her breath.

"Yes, that does seem to be my name." Sutton agreed, smiling sweetly at her parents before turning to her sisters. "Wow. You guys were right… The whole walking into the door thing was lame. This was much better."

"Glad you think so." The brunette gasped out, finally seeming to regain some of her breath.

"Certainly not how I saw this going…" Laurel commented, straightening out the skirt she was wearing. "But I suppose now it's all in the open…"

"W-what?" Kristen gasped, obviously still flabbergasted by the incident that had just occurred. Ted, in his state of shock, had dropped the delicious apple he had waited so long to eat and was just staring in the doorway, staring.

"Wow." The brunette finally said, straightening up. "Your mom gives really dangerous hugs." She told Sutton, who just smiled.

"Yeah, you kind of get used to them…" She then turned back to her parents, who were still gaping. "Can we go in now? It's really kind of hot out here."

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><p>"So… You made yourself a clone?" Ted finally asked as they all sat down on two couches, the three girls on one, Kristen and Ted on the other. "Is that what this is? Some sort of science experiment gone wrong?"<p>

The brunette frowned and turned to Laurel worriedly. "Do I really look that bad?"

"No," Sutton interrupted. "You look amazing, because I look amazing. Don't doubt the face, Emma."

"Emma?" Kristen asked curiously. "Is that what you're calling yourself?"

Emma raised an eyebrow. "You don't actually think that Sutton cloned herself, do you? Because, I've got to say, she's nowhere near good enough in any type of science to even think about something like that. But yes, that's what I call myself… That's what I've called myself for the past seventeen years of my life."

"Seventeen years?" Ted asked incredulously. "That's the same age as Sutton!"

Sutton burst out laughing then. "Honestly, how have you not figured this out yet? I'm _adopted_. I was just asking about _siblings_. Mom, Dad, meet Emma Becker, my _twin sister_."

Ted paused. "You know, that makes a lot more sense." He then stood up and offered a hand to Emma. "It's nice to meet you, Emma."

"Yeah, it's really nice to meet you too… I've heard a lot." She smiled at him cheerfully, not at all put off that they were just accusing her of being a clone a few moments ago.

"Oh, I am so sorry for crushing you like that, sweetie!" Kristen fussed as she gently pulled Emma in for another, softer, hug.

"Don't worry about it. No harm done…" Emma grinned, before her smile faltered slightly. "I think."

"So," Kristen addressed Sutton. "Why did we not know that you had a twin out there?"

Sutton shrugged. "I didn't even know that there was a possibility until a few days ago…"

"What happened then?" Kristen asked.

"Well, Justin found this old photo with a girl who looked _exactly _like me, from one of his old foster homes, and so we looked at the name on the back, and Thayer helped us track her down." Sutton explained, shrugging nonchalantly.

"And you just believed that you had a twin out there?" Ted asked incredulously.

"Well, not until I video-chatted with her." Sutton grinned at Emma. "And then I knew it couldn't have been a trick because there was _no way_ I would _ever_ wear anything as hideous as the outfit she had on."

"I had on a t-shirt and jeans, Sutton. There's nothing wrong with a t-shirt and jeans."

"Sure, sure… I mean, it's not like you needed to put in much of an effort, it's not like you had a boyfriend or anything."

"Sutton, we don't all have thousands of dollars that we can blow on clothes."

Sutton looked positively outraged at this point. "_Blow_? I'll have you know that _everything_ in my closet is worth a thousand times more than everything you own."

"That's kind of my point." Emma grinned softly, raising an eyebrow.

"Wait," Kristen interrupted, puzzling out something that had been said a bit before. "Did you say foster home?"

"Well, yeah… Not all of us have the good fortune to get adopted." Emma smiled sadly before shrugging. "It's no big deal."

"Well, where are you living now?" Kristen asked, feeling her heart break just a little bit.

The three girls exchanged a glance before Emma bit her lip, looking more than a bit uncomfortable. "Well, now it's kind of tricky."

"How so?"

"The last foster home I was in wasn't exactly… good. At all. And then my foster brother, Travis tried to… Well, the point is, I don't exactly want to go back there. So, I'll just have to find a hotel or something."

"Are you saying you don't have anywhere to go?" Kristen asked in horror.

"Yes, she is!" Laurel interrupted. "So could she please stay here, _please_?"

"Of course!" Both Kristen and Ted answered at once, without a moment's hesitation.

"And then we'll discuss the whole 'adoption' thing, but for now, let's get you settled." Kristen grinned, mentally flicking through the guest rooms in the house in order to think of the perfect one.

"A-adoption?" Emma asked, wide-eyed and gaping slightly.

"Well, we can't have our daughter's sister living in a _foster home_… Let's just have you live here for a bit, and see how you like it. We have a friend who can sort out all the legal mumbo-jumbo later." Ted assured Emma, who was looking so ridiculously happy that it looked like she might be about to burst.

"Really?"

"Well, of course." Kristen grinned. "And we'll have to go shopping later… Get you a wardrobe, and some decorations for your room… you can stay in the guest room on the second floor." She grabbed Emma's arm and led her away, chattering all the while. "…Have you had breakfast yet?"

Laurel and Sutton, sitting on the couch shared a high-five at the realization that their plan had gone even better than they had hoped.

"Not so fast, young ladies. We still haven't discussed your punishment yet." Ted growled at the two of them, the smile that had been on his face from meeting and speaking to Emma completely vanished, possibly aided along by the realization that his apple was still on the floor in the doorway, completely uneatable.

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><p><strong>AN: Suddenly, I'm having an odd craving for an apple... Ah, well... Now, some of you may think that Ted and Kristen's reactions to Emma were completely and horribly implausible and horrible... This may be correct. This is probably correct, but I've asked both my parents and some relatives and family friends, and all answered that if they adopted a kid and that kid had siblings, they would take in those siblings too, so I just went with what I had. <strong>

**Next up is a Emma/Sutton confrontation type chapter, more Emma-centric angst, and of course, Mads and Char!**

**Thanks for putting up with me,**

**Marie**


	8. The Risks that Come With Shopping

**AN: I'm sorry that this took so long... But it was Finals week, and school takes priority over fanfiction. I don't especially like this chapter, but every once in a while, you need a filler. Possibly. I'll try to put more Ethan into the next one...**

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><p>"This can't be happening. Is this happening? No, it can't be happening."<p>

Sutton rolled her eyes, lounging on her sister's bed. "Emma, shut up. It's happening."

"But it _can't_ be!"

"But it _is_. So can you shut your mouth and jump into the car so we can go shopping now?"

Emma turned to Sutton and suddenly, jumped on her with a tackle hug. She pulled her twin sister close and just squeezed the living crap out of her in a way that was very directly reminiscent of Kristen's bear hug. "Thank you." She finally said when she had released her twin.

"For what? And what the _hell_ was _that_?" Sutton asked, trying to smooth out her hair and clothes at the same time.

"That was for helping me… I know that we haven't gotten along, but it really means _so much_ to me that you were willing to do this." Emma managed to stammer out.

Sutton raised an eyebrow at her fumbling sister. "I think you're forgetting that I didn't want to do this in the first place."

Emma grinned at her sister in a very off-putting way. Her smile was so wide, in fact, that Sutton wondered for a split second if _her_ face at ever looked like it was about to split in two. "I'm not stupid, Sutton. I know that if you really didn't want this to happen, you would have found some way to sabotage it. And, not only did you not do that, you also helped a _lot_, so… Thanks. Really."

Sutton sighed dramatically, a slow grin spreading across her face as she examined her nails. "Well, I suppose it is nice to have my sister actually in the same house as me without having to run away at the first sign of my parents."

Their eyes met and suddenly, they were in another hug, this one completely awkward, yet warm and loving in all the right (sisterly) ways. They pulled away from it quickly, neither one really used to sisterly hugs yet, but they were both grinning, which Emma took as a good sign for their relationship.

"Am I really going to be adopted?" Emma asked a few minutes later, as they were both looking through Sutton's closet for something for Emma to wear.

"Hmm… I think so. Why?" Sutton asked, pulling out a light blue, summery dress that she held up to Emma before shaking her head and putting it back only to begin digging around once more.

"Well, I just don't want to get my hopes up." Emma answered.

"What do you mean?" Sutton asked, holding up a black blouse that she immediately thrust at Emma, along with a knee length gray pencil skirt. "Get dressed."

Emma did so, taking care to change carefully so Sutton wouldn't see her… They had the same body, sure, but she doubted that Sutton had so many scars. "They can't actually want to adopt me within minutes of meeting me… I mean, what if I'm a serial killer or something?"

"Are you?"

"No, but they don't know that." Emma answered, pulling on the skirt before spinning around and showing the combo to Sutton, who nodded in approval.

"You look good, and yes, they do know that. I don't just call anyone my twin, you know. I have standards."

"Well, yeah, maybe I'm not a serial killer… But they don't know that I don't have some major problems. After all, I've been in the system all my life. What if I've developed multiple personality disorder or schizophrenia?"

Sutton gave her twin a weird look. "I'm pretty sure we would know if you were schizophrenic… I mean, I've been around you a lot, and so far you haven't started any conversations with fruit."

"But your parents don't know that I haven't!"

Sutton snorted suddenly. "The way my dad was looking at that apple, he would be a hypocrite if you had."

"But… What if they decide that I'm not good enough?" Emma asked after a moment, quietly.

"Are you serious right now?" Sutton snapped, searching her twin's face for the truth. "Oh my god, you are, aren't you. Emma, my parents have never liked me better than when they thought you were me. Seriously. They're going to love you, the real you. I promise."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Now get in the car already, we're going shopping." Sutton commanded, grinning.

* * *

><p>"What about this?" Kristen asked, holding up a bedding set of two pillowcases, and bed sheets that were in a pretty dark blue shade that reminded Emma of the fake sapphire ring her foster mother had worn often.<p>

"Oh, God, Mom. No." Sutton groaned, instead holding up white sheets with a twisting green pattern on them. "These are much better, right Emma?"

Emma smiled awkwardly at Kristen. "I kind of like Sutton's more, but the ones you picked out were really pretty too."

The blonde woman sighed and lowered the bedding set. "Yeah, I know… They were horrible. We should just hire interior decorators and get it over with, but it just wouldn't be _homey_, you know?"

Emma grinned at her. "Yeah, I get it. Plus, there's got to be some sort of satisfaction that comes from picking it all out yourself."

"Wiser words were never spoken." Mrs. Mercer smiled.

"Okay," Sutton announced as she dumped a few decorative pillows into their shopping basket. "We're done. Seriously. Now, let's take all this out to the car, and then go shopping for more important things."

"More important things?" Emma asked, raising an eyebrow while examining the multiple pillows that her twin just dumped into the cart.

"Clothes," Came the answer in a very 'duh' tone. "You can't just keep borrowing mine."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Emma grinned, realizing how much she had actually been borrowing her sister's clothes.

"Well, I suppose you don't want me tagging along for this process… Here," Kristen said, reaching into her purse and taking out a credit card. "Take this."

"Thanks Mom!" Sutton grinned before grabbing Emma's arm and running off.

Emma just managed to yell out a thank you before she was completely out of sight of Kristen.

* * *

><p>"And you'll need some lingerie too, just in case you manage to <em>sneak off<em> with Ethan again." Sutton continued listing, pointing to the map of the mall. "So, we'll go there after the dress shop. Sound like a plan?"

Emma just looked at her wide-eyed. "I'm pretty sure your mom didn't want you to completely max out the card and put your family into debt."

"If she didn't, she would have said so."

They continued to the dress shop, and, as Emma was browsing through the dresses, trying with all of her might to ignore the tags on them that broadcasted just how many small countries they were worth, Sutton was dumping piles of them left and right, only deciding that none of them were cute after she made a huge mess.

"Hmm… You know what? Nothing in here is really that great. Here's the card, if you see something you like, buy it. Meanwhile, I am going to go to the bathroom." Sutton grinned at her, forking over the card before walking away from the huge mess she had created.

Emma sighed as she stared at the piles of gorgeous dresses that were discarded carelessly. She felt beyond sorry for the poor salesgirl who had to clean the mess up… But then again, the commission that the girls were paid was probably more than enough.

Suddenly, a sparkling silver and blue caught her eye and she turned to see a dress that was beyond gorgeous. She took it off the hanger carefully and examined the tag (not looking at the price), only to find that it was three sizes too large. Sighing with regret, she walked up to the sales counter.

"Hi, do you have this dress in a size 5?" She asked, holding up her dress and smiling politely.

The brunette salesgirl smiled at her politely. "You know what? I'm not sure. Let me check the back, okay?"

"Thank you so much." Emma grinned at the girl, who returned the grin before walking off towards the back of the store.

"Sutton?" A sudden screech behind her exclaimed, and she turned around only to see Char and Mads staring at her with piles of dresses in their arms. Before she could register what, exactly, was going on, she was enveloped into yet another hug.

_My gosh, what is it with Sutton's friends and family and hugging me so I can't __**breathe**__? _Emma wondered, trying to push some air into her not cooperating lungs.

Suddenly, laughter broke out, and it was loud. Emma was released from the hug only to see a very odd sight of her twin laughing like a crazy woman, leaning against the counter and clutching her side with her other hand.

"Hahahaha… Oh, my god… That's the _second time_!" Sutton gasped out, wiping away tears of mirth as she straightened up slowly.

"Sutton?" Char asked, mouth agape as she turned to Emma. "So who are _you_?"

Sutton walked over to Emma and wrapped an arm around her, grinning all the while. "Guys, meet my twin sister, Emma Becker."

Emma waved shyly, feeling the air that had been absent in her lungs return to her. Either her lungs were getting more and more damaged, or they were getting more tolerant of the catastrophes forced upon them on a daily basis. She wasn't sure which option she preferred.

Mads was the first to speak. "You're joking."

"Nope!" Sutton exclaimed proudly, thrusting Emma forth with all the carelessness of a three year old with a rag doll. "She's a hundred percent real!"

Emma batted Sutton away from her and grinned sadly at her sister's friends. "Sorry about her, I'm pretty sure she had sugar this morning or something. You guys must be Char and Mads, I've heard a lot about you."

"Funny," Mads said icily, crossing her arms. "We haven't heard anything about you."

Emma winced and smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, the whole 'keeping me a secret' kept from that, I bet…"

"What are you doing here anyway?" Char asked, raising an eyebrow, her voice not as cold as Mads, but not overly warm either.

"She didn't exactly have anywhere else to go…" Sutton explained nonchalantly, not noticing when Emma winced slightly at the reality of her sister's words. "Only I was lucky enough to get adopted, she spent her whole life bouncing around in the foster care system."

"Oh." Mads said suddenly, eyebrows lifting and a shocked and panicked look suddenly appearing upon her face. "Sutton, can I talk to you for a second?" The slim ballerina did not wait for an affirmative, instead just lunging forth and dragging off Sutton.

"I'm not here for her money." Emma said suddenly, startling Char, and herself.

"What?" The blonde asked, surprised.

"I'm not here for her, or the Mercers' money. Honestly. The only reason I came here was to meet my sister. I've never had a family, and I've always wanted one, so when my _twin sister_ suddenly contacted me, I didn't waste much time in getting on a bus." She explained, gesturing with her hands slightly. "I wasn't even going to stay for a while, just for the weekend, but then Sutton got it into her head that I should stay for… well, forever, and I like that idea, so obviously, I wasn't going to say no…"

Char scrutinized her intensely, and the fierce look made Emma wish she had never started babbling. "So, if she told you to leave…"

"I'd ask her why, and then I'd be on the first bus to Las Vegas." She answered honestly, leaving out the part where she would get Ethan to come with her.

"And you wouldn't try to get in contact with her ever again?" The blonde pressed for answers, and Emma furrowed her brow trying to figure out a satisfactory one.

"To be honest, I'm not sure. If I left on good terms, yes, maybe not immediately, but yes… If it was on bad terms, probably no, and if yes, I'd wait a few years before attempting any sort of contact."

Char nodded slowly. "I believe you… Sorry about the interrogation, but you've got to admit, it's a bit shady… I mean, random twin shows up, is suddenly moving in, it's all a bit much…"

Emma smiled knowingly. "Yeah, I get that… Thanks for hearing me out, though."

The blonde shrugged nonchalantly. "Least I could do… Mads was being kind of rude, and at least one of us should listen to your side of the story…"

"Excuse me, miss?" A voice behind Emma spoke and she turned to see the salesgirl from before equipped with the dress. "This was the last one in a size 5… You got lucky." She grinned and Emma grinned back.

"Thank you so much!" She chirped, feeling the silky fabric of the dress run through her fingers.

"No problem… Ask me if you need anything." The salesgirl instructed, and Emma nodded.

Char was looking slightly surprised when Emma turned back around.

"Wow."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Wow what?"

"You're really… not Sutton."

"Yes, I know. I'm Emma."

"No, I mean, your personality is _completely _different! It's so weird! You look _exactly_ like her, but you're _nothing_ like her!"

"Well, yeah, it's nature vs. nurture." Emma stated.

"Umm… What?" Char asked, raising a perfectly manicured eyebrow.

"You know, nature vs. nurture, the scientific debate on whether or not someone's environment completely overrides the nature they were born with. John Locke thought so, he came up with _tabula rasa_, the 'blank slate', and even though today we know that it's not entirely true, it's been proven that environment does greatly influence people."

Char gaped at Emma. "Yeah, you're definitely nothing like Sutton… Do you actually study in school when it's not finals or midterms?"

"Well, yeah, how else am I supposed to get straight A's?"

"Straight A's? Like, always?"

"Yes, always."

Just then, Mads and Sutton came round the corner, visibly arguing. Sutton began to walk faster, to get closer to Emma and safety, far away from Mads and her annoying arguments.

"I'm just saying!" Mads yelled as they walked back into the store. "Consider it!"

"Consider what? Turning my _twin sister_ out onto the streets? Letting her be _alone_ after her foster brother nearly _raped_ her?" She turned on her friend, and the look on her face was almost enough to cause Emma's heart to stop.

"_What_?" Char exclaimed, whirling around to face Emma. "You didn't say anything about that?"

"It wasn't exactly something I really wanted to share, Char…"

"Raped?" Mads managed to whimper after a few moments.

"Why do you think she left Las Vegas right after I contacted her? She was staying at her friend's house, but her friend's mom didn't exactly have enough money to support her, so she had to leave there. She just wanted to visit, and see if she could find some apartment nearby that she could afford. I was the one who invited her to move in with us, and Laurel was actually the one who got our parents to agree. My mom and dad _love_ her, so if you don't mind, I'm going to go home with my _sister_." Sutton lied easily, the twisted words slipping out of her mouth ever so easily.

Emma winced. "Wow. Melodramatic much, Sutton?" She muttered under her breath before turning to Mads. "Point is, I'm not after money, or anything. Honestly. I've already convinced Char, and I hope I can convince you too, the only reason I came here was to find my sister." Turning, she paid for the dress that felt so nice in her hands and quickly walked out of the store after using 'twin telepathy' to tell Sutton that she was going to the bathroom.

While washing her hands, Emma stared at herself in the mirror. Perhaps she should dye her hair, or cut it short, just to not be mistaken for Sutton anymore. As she was trying to envision herself with blonde hair, a face appeared next to hers in the mirror.

"Sutton said you'd be in here," Mads spoke while pulling out a mascara wand and fixing her makeup.

Emma didn't speak, uncertain how to reply.

"Look, I'm sorry for lashing out. I've had a hard time, there's this guy, British accent, Sutton _despises_ him… It's complicated. But I've been under stress for a while, and plus, there have been far too many people who try to take advantage of little rich girls… Like, this one guy, Derek…"

"It's fine, can we just start over? I mean, please, just forget this whole incident?" Emma pleaded, referring especially to the 'foster brother' comment Sutton had spouted.

"Yeah. Sounds like a good idea…" Mads agreed while still eyeing Emma. "But, you know what? If I _ever_ find out that you did something to Sutton, or her family, I will end you. My dad is a DA, and I'm not above using him."

Emam laughed and nodded. "Don't worry, I won't do anything." After all, after everything she and Sutton had been through, she didn't think anything could change their friendship.

* * *

><p>Later that night, Emma was texting Ethan while lying under her new blankets and waiting to get tired enough to drift off to sleep. "So, how'd your first day as a part of the Mercer household go?" Laurel asked, stepping inside.<p>

"It was kind of beyond amazing." Emma admitted, fingering her blanket. "But I didn't really get any time to spend with you…"

"Well, tomorrow we can go up to the cabin for some quality sister time." Laurel proposed, winking, knowing how much Emma wanted to see Ethan.

"That'd be great and all, but I actually wanted to spend some time with _you_."

Laurel laughed, sitting down. "We can go to the movies or something."

"Sounds good," Emma grinned. "And then we can go to the cabin."

"I _knew_ you wanted to do that!"

"Well, of course I do. I'd be crazy not to."

Just then, her phone vibrated and Emma nearly dove for it. When she opened the text, it simply read '_Good night, Emma. Love you.' _and she smiled softly, sliding her phone under her pillow.

Laurel simply eyed her. "Well, I'm going to go to sleep. You should get some rest too… It's been a long day."

"Yeah… Good night Laurel!"

"Night Emma."

She fell asleep that night in a big, luxurious bed with heaps of blankets and pillows all around her… and yet, all she wanted was a small bed, in a tiny trailer, with her boyfriend hugging her till she fell asleep.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Yeah, I know, it was awful. But next chapter has school and Ethan. After that, one or two chapters, and then this story is over... I have a plan, however, for a new one. I've started writing it, so I'll be able to post it right after I finish this one.<strong>

**I'd love to hear what you'd like to happen before this story ends, so review!**

**Sincerely,**

**Marie**


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